


Grand Slam

by ToDefineIsToLimit



Series: How Do We Stack Up? [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Romance, Slow Burn, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:34:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 33,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21656839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToDefineIsToLimit/pseuds/ToDefineIsToLimit
Summary: Dee is a Villain and Roman is a hero but maybe they're ready to entertain the possiblitiy of more between them?Patton is like a mob boss, no I'm not jokingVirgil is pining helplessly, can someone get this boy some helpLogan is learning to accept his powers... or well he's trying? He's trying, and we're proud of him.they all have powers except Remy and people are super awful and unaccepting about superhumans"...How do we stack up?""Like pancakes! A grand slam!""Like pancakes, you fall flat."(You need to read the whole series to understand this fic cuz it's all one story)
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Dr. Emile Picani, Logic | Logan & Sleep | Remy
Series: How Do We Stack Up? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1411096
Comments: 266
Kudos: 193





	1. Cuddling?? Are you trying to kill me??

**Author's Note:**

> look i finally posted, I'm alive!  
> there is a discord server for this fic and hopefully the link won't break  
> https://discord.gg/FubhBAY  
> so this is the last fic of this series so we're nearing the end!  
> please enjoy some Roceit

After those several minutes of tension, they all sat down on the folding chairs and bean bag for a few minutes to decompress.

The past forty-eight hours had been… well, they had been something.

Getting knocked out and nearly murdered in an alley. Finding out all his friends had been conspiring together for months while he played the fool. Walking home with Fae and feeling as if something might be starting between them. Getting only a few hours of sleep before school and then work and then going out. Then Patton and Deimos going missing. Then Patton was a mob boss and his twin brother came back into his life. Then he rode a motorcycle with the guy that he just might be _really_ falling for. And that guy- wait a minute… THAT GUY.

Roman shot to his feet, "WAIT A MINUTE WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST CALL FAE???"

"Shit," Fae was sitting there with wide eyes.

Patton stared at his shoes, “Oh dear.”

"Ah- nothing, I called him Fae, " Logan said looking surprised.

"NO NO YOU DIDN'T, YOU CALLED HIM-"

"No, he didn't!" Fae shot to his feet to hold up his hands placatingly.

"You called him Dee! And you are aren't you?! God, fuck me, I'm such an idiot! I should have known! All this fucking time and it's been _you_!"

The disguise fell away and Dee stood in front of him, "Dear Knight, please just calm-"

"Don't call me that!" Roman snapped. This man who had been so rude was… "Just- just come out here, " He demanded.

Roman walked to the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. He didn't want to do this in front of Patton or Logan. Dee climbed through and shut the window behind him.

"Roman I'm sorry."

Roman turned away, running his hands through his hair and leaning against the rail to avoids looking at him, "So how much of all that was just part of your game? You know all the being friends and riding the motorcycle and the- the bridge?" He asked trying to sound unbothered. They both knew it was a lie.

"Just the name, " Dee answered, his tone carefully measured

"Really because it seems like it was a whole hell of a lot more to me, " Roman turned around to look at him.

"Hey it's not as if i knew who you were before last night and there hasn't exactly been time for a big reveal yet, okay?" Dee sounded defensive.

"So you were planning on telling me?"

"Yes, " He answered a little too quickly. 

Roman rolled his eyes, he may not be Patton but he could tell that Dee was lying, "Bullshit you didn't ever want to tell me did you?"

"Well, not tonight perhaps but soon!"

"Oh yeah? How soon?"

".... Eventually," Dee admitted.

Roman threw up his hands in exasperation, "I'm sorry, I just thought that we- never mind what I thought."

"Though that we what?" Dee asked quietly.

"Nothing!" Roman said turning away again.

"Thought that we _What_?!" Dee demanded his self control breaking like a rope pulled taut for too long. 

He walked over to the rail to look at Roman, "What? Did you think that we could be friends? ...Hang out? ...Date?" Roman's stomach flipped as one of them voiced the possibility of romance aloud for the first time. 

But it was quickly crushed.

"Wake up Sir Knight this isn't the faerie tale you seem to think we're living in! There's no room for a friendship with someone who you've never seen outside of a costume. There was no future for us with all the secrets and neither of us was willing to risk our safety to trust each other."

"Well, you know all of that stuff was out of the question anyway!" Roman snapped back, angry that the idea had been shot down so quickly. 

"Oh yeah? And why is that?"

"Because you're a jerk!"

Dee laughed high and shrill, "You didn't seem to think I was such a jerk when you wanted to ride on the motorcycle!"

Roman spluttered his mind catching momentarily on the still-fresh memory of putting his arms around the other man, "That- that is _so_ not the point!"

"And why not?!" 

"Because I didn't know who you were then!"

Dee threw his hands up in exasperation, "Ah yes and I was a completely different person when I was driving the bike." 

Roman stood in silence feeling embarrassed.

"But you're right, it's way too much to ask you to attempt to reconcile the two parts of me you've met. It's certainly not as if I have already had to do the same in hopes to maintain this thing between us."

Roman frowned. He uh- he hadn't actually thought of this from Dee's perspective. 

He finally spoke in a grumble, "Well jeez a rose by any other name would call me out just as brutally. Fine yeah, we're good. Sorry."

Dee raised an eyebrow, "You really hate being wrong about things don't you?"

"Who doesn't?"

Dee shrugged.

The silence was awkward and thick, Roman spoke hoping to make Dee laugh, "And uh You can call me Dear Knight, you know, if you want to."

"Oh may I?" Dee said arching an eyebrow, "Who said I wanted to?" 

Roman's face felt warm apparently that hadn’t been a joking matter to Dee, "Well no one I was just saying that-"

Dee interrupted, "No, I don't want to call you 'Dear Knight'. I would much rather call you 'Dear'. Would that be okay?" 

Roman blinked a few times, "I-"

"You don't have to decide now, " Dee reminded him, "it's been a long night. I just… have been contemplating such things, calling you dear, walking you to class. Now that we know each other’s names. I don’t know just think about it."

"Every night is a long night, if I wait for a reasonable time you'll never get an answer. So, yeah I'd actually like if you called me that," Roman said feeling his face get very warm.

"Good. Then… Goodnight dear, " Dee flashed him a smile and went back into the apartment with no regard for the fact that Roman had completely melted. 

He told Patton they were leaving and they were gone by the time Roman regained his wits. 

How did Dee do that? One minute they were arguing and the next Roman was starting after him with heart eyes. It was unfair.

Roman came back inside, shut the window, and let out a squeal. 

"Are you quite well?" Logan asked

Roman was not quite capable of words yet, "Mmhmm."

"Should I call for medical attention?"

"Nuh-uh." 

Logan sighed and shook his head, "Roman?"

"Hmm?"

"Go to bed."

"Okay." 

And so Roman did go to bed. He drifted off quickly because dear God it was almost morning and he had had a long day.

***

Patton picked up the ringing phone in his new office. He had been doing this whole syndicate leader this for a few days now and the office phone had hardly stopped ringing. 

He didn't know if he should call it an office. Julian called it a conference room and it was an awfully big to call an office. But it wasn't really a conference room because there were only two chairs. Neither term was quite right. 

They were a little off-ice. Hahaha.

"Hello?" He said picking up. 

"She's offering me money, " A voice from the other side of the phone.

"I'm sorry but that is the third time this evening that someone has said that. I'm going to need you to tell me your name." It was true he had he had also been asked "so boss do we kill 'em?" twice. And that was just in the hour he had spent there catching up on things before dinner. 

"Logan Cuinn."

"Oh Logan hi! Wait who's offering you money?"

"Robin Wright, she's trying to bribe me for my research I have turned her down but she is beginning to get frustrated."

"That is very not good."

"You don't say, " Logan said dryly.

"Well thanks, I'll have my guys keep an eye on her."

"Excellent, " Logan agreed, "and In the meantime we must keep this information on a strictly need to know basis."

"Absolutely, top secret, " Patton said maintaining the serious tone.

There was a few seconds of silence before Patton broke.

"We sound like spies, " Patton giggled.

"Indeed, but takes sense I suppose. We have been dabbling in undercover operations for a year now and in fairness with your new profession things are bound to become even stranger. And-" Logan stopped speaking suddenly.

"Are you okay Lo?"

"Hmm? Oh yes I am I was actually just trying to see if I could hear your thoughts through the phone. It just suddenly occurred to me that I never tried."

Patton was thrilled to hear that Logan was doing something with his powers other than shoving them down!

"Can you?" He asked eagerly.

"No I cannot, I suppose that's good."

"And how's the work with you powers going?" Patton asked gently.

"I've found it is more bearable when it feels intentional. It is less frustrating if I am actually trying to use them. It has not subsided at all, but it is manageable to deal with I suppose."

"That's great!"

Logan’s voice had one of his almost smiles, "Yes I suppose it is."

"Alright Lo, I gotta let you go I was just about to head home for the night and I like to talk to the driver on the way home."

"You actually allow someone to drive you?"

"Well yeah, my mom didn't let me get a license, and since then I just haven't been super _driven_ to get one."

Logan sighed heavily.

"Oh c'mon Logan you walked right into that one."

Logan huffed, "Well yes I'm not in a car so obviously I _walked_ into it."

"Logan! You made a pun!!" Patton squealed happily.

"No I didn't!" Logan exclaimed sounding flustered. He hung up before Patton could argue.

Patton headed home talking to his driver, Erin, all the way. She used to be an actress, but then she decided she liked money and acting wasn't getting her money. So, she became Julian's main driver. She was really sweet, about twenty seven. Patton liked talking to her even though she kept asking why he didn’t move into a nicer place now that he had the means.

The truth was that he just didn’t want to live alone. The year after he had left home had been _so_ lonely.

He- he didn’t want to live like that again. 

And it was nice living with his best friend! And Virgil was nice enough. Patton was pretty sure Virgil didn’t like him because he always left really quickly whenever Patton was around but that was okay, not everyone has to like him.

Patton climbed the stairs to his apartment, pulled out his keys and opened the door. He knew Dee was out tying a scarf to the bridge for some reason, at least that’s what he had told Patton but he had refused to explain why he would tie a scarf to a bridge.

“What’s up with you lately?” Patton had asked earlier that evening before he went off to headquarters.

Dee spoke coldly, “Nothing, I don’t mind, he can take his time, I have things to do. It’s not like I really put myself on the line there and he hasn’t contacted me since.”

“Dee sweetie, what are you talking about?”

“Roman! He said I could call him dear, but I haven’t seen him since! I haven’t even gotten coffee at that shop for days because I don’t know when he’s going to be working and I don’t want to make a fool of myself!”

“Does he even have your phone number?”

A look of realization dawned on his face

“Fuck… No I suppose he doesn’t,” Dee stood and started pulling on shoes. He grabbed a scarf that was tossed over the back of his desk chair.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m gonna tie this scarf to the fuckin bridge.”

And then he left. Patton had no clue what that was about.

Patton plopped down on the couch and flicked on the TV. At this time of day he used to have to go to walmart. This was much nicer. Maybe this whole mob boss thing wasn’t so bad!

*** 

Dee held the scarf in his hand debating if he should even put it on the bridge. Not because he was afraid of being rejected, _of course_ , but because this scarf was delicate. And- and leaving it here with no one to pick it up could ruin it! He really liked this scarf, like it was ugly, but he preferred having it over not having it. You know? What if the scarf was so awful and ugly that Roman took one look at it and flew away?

Then it would have all been pointless putting his scarf on the line.

He heard a small hiss sound and a light thump, the familiar sound of rocket boots disengaging.

He turned around scarf in hand. Roman had flipped up the visor on his Knight helmet, he was holding a scarf too.

"Great minds think alike, " Roman offered tentatively.

"Fools rarely differ, Sir Knight."

"You think it's foolish for us to meet?"

"On the contrary, I've found that it's me who's foolish for allowing myself to be charmed, " Dee raised an eyebrow and turned away. 

He looked over the edge of the bridge gazing out at the water. The air was turning colder and the days were growing shorter, very soon the water would be the icy stream he had dove into all those months ago.

"Charmed? By who?" Roman teased coming over to the rail and looking at him.

Dee shot him a glare not willing to be so upfront about his feelings when they’re were where anyone could hear them, "On the other hand, maybe we are both fools for talking in so public a place. How much time do you have?"

"All night, " Roman answered, a challenge in his eyes, ‘Impress me.’ 

"Then get changed,” Dee smirked, “I'm in civilian clothes and I refuse to be seen with such a goody two shoes, you'll ruin my reputation."

Roman huffed and snapped his fingers. He simultaneously banished his costume and summoned the red leather jacket he loved so well.

"How's this?" Roman said with a look on his face that showed that he knew he looked good.

"It'll do, " Dee shrugged not revealing anything. 

Roman rolled his eyes, "Where are we going?"

Dee strolled over to the motorcycle he had not yet returned and held out a helmet to Roman, "You don't wanna know."

Roman put it on, "And why not?"

Dee gave a shrug and said, "Crime." He put on a helmet and got on. 

"Oh joy because we don't do that nearly often enough."

***

It was a good ride Roman had really started relaxing into the feeling of Dee in his arms. The past few weeks had helped. He felt less weird about the fact that it was Dee he had been falling for. Roman had just needed a little time to really sort things out with himself and with his brother.

When they arrived Roman found that they were standing outside the university library. Dee knelt down pulled a few things out of his pocket and started picking the lock.

"Dee!" Roman admonished. There it was again, a stark reminder of how different they were.

"Oh come now, dear. What's a little breaking and entering between friends?" Roman felt himself melt a little at being called that. There was a small click, Dee turned the knob and the door swung open.

"Shall we?" Dee arched an eyebrow at him.

"Fiiiine, " Roman huffed, pouting.

They went inside closing the door behind them. Roman followed Dee up through the levels of books. He didn’t get to come here as often as he liked there were so many novels he would love to read on these shelves. He ran his hand along the spines as they walked. He stopped dead when he realized the section they were entering. Autobiographies. 

This was... where other students came to make out. Not that he wasn't up for it, he was just surprised!

Dee turned toward him with a frown, "Problem?"

"N-no!" Roman said striding forward with purpose. His face felt hot. Dee looked around and seemed to realize where they were as if he hadn't noticed.

He smirked, "Ah my apologies we seemed to have entered the _biology_ section. I can assure you I didn't mean to offend your delicate sensibilities. We're just passing through."

Roman exhaled feeling both relieved and a little disappointed, "Oh, alright."

"You didn't think that was why I was bringing you here, did you?" Dee asked as they strolled through the secluded section of the library. He nudged Roman with his shoulder.

"Well…" Roman trailed off, embarrassed.

"Hmm, maybe if you're still up for it when we come back through."

Roman's breath caught. They went up a small flight of stairs and Dee stopped at a door that read "Roof Exit, STAFF ONLY" he pushed the door open anyway. 

Dee stepped out onto the roof first. Then Roman climbed up. The view was lovely, perhaps not as good as the view from Remus' office at headquarters, but lovely.

Dee cleared his throat causing Roman to turn and look at him. He was standing next to a hammock that was swinging in the breeze between two poles that were mounted to the roof.

"Oh, I've never sat in a hammock before," Roman said feeling kinda surprised at himself, it was one of those things that you didn’t realize you had missed out on until it was staring you in the face.

"Well it's all about confidence, " Dee said circling around to sit, "You need to not be too scared to-" he sat, it swung, he rolled, he fell with a thud.

"Fuck, that hurt!"

Roman bust out laughing, Dee looked up, glaring.

"'You've got to be confident'" Roman said mocking Dee's smooth tone and swaggering over to him and holding out a hand to the other man. Dee muttered bitterly under his breath as he used Roman's hand to pull himself up.

"Well if you think You could do it better be my guest,” Dee gestured to the hammock, “that thing was invented by a trickster God."

Roman looked at it a moment then turned and sat down. When it didn't drop him, he carefully turned to lie down. He let out a dramatic sign of contentment and stretched out, folding his arms under his head.

"Where's yours?" He asked lazily.

"Well either you summon another or we're sharing, pretty boy, " Dee said crossing his arms. 

" _Pretty Boy?_ " Roman repeated incredulously. 

Dee looked at him suddenly, eyes wide, lips pursed, "That last part wasn't supposed to be out loud."

Roman's face felt warm again, he had assumed it was some sort of playful insult he hadn't thought Dee like _meant_ it.

"Yeah well I don't want to summon a second hammock, " Roman responded finally regaining his wits.

"Well that means we just have to share," Dee challenged, probably expecting Roman to back down.

Roman sat up and raised an eyebrow, "Uh yeah I sure hope it does." 

Dee froze for a solid three seconds then seemed to restart, "No, that's not happening, and I shouldn't have suggested this, I shouldn't have joked about that, you shouldn’t joke about it either.” He seemed embarrassed. Had Roman finally found the thing to make Dee blush? Suggesting they cuddle?

“No I want to,” Roman said letting his thoughts come out in words.

“You- you do? Why? Why do you- what?” Dee stumbled over his words.

“Nevermind,” Roman waved it off, Dee wasn’t ready, “Forget it.”

“No, no. What did you say? You want to cuddle?”

“Don't you- you were right, we shouldn't.”

“No, no, if you wanted to… please know that I'm horribly wrong. Very, very, incorrect please don't listen to me ever.”

Roman looked up at Dee slowly, “So, you would want to... or whatever?”

Dee buried his face in his hands and stomped toward the other side of the roof and then stomps back throwing his hands up in the air, “Yes, obviously, I would want to. What do you think I brought you up here for? Why wouldn't I want to do that sort of thing with you? I mean that was not the whole reason I brought you here! I mean- Fuck, why are the words just not coming out the way I want them to?” Dee’s face was bright red.

“Okay, okay, how about this, tonight we don't do anything, because I need a little time. How about tonight we simply exchanged phone numbers after that whatever happens happens.”

“You make it sound as if I’m suggesting we have sex,” Roman teased lightly, offering Dee a soft smile.

“Sex I can handle! People casual joke about sex and we could reasonably do that for a few more months but like cuddling is different okay??”

“That’s fair,” Roman said rubbing the back of his neck, he understood how Dee felt to an extent.

Dee huffed lightly, “Okay, I know that I'm usually the one who likes to not speak plainly, but I need to know, would you uh be interested in like getting dinner sometime, or a movie, or both? I don’t know.”

“Yeah uhm that would be very uhm good yeah,” Roman was not smooth either, weren’t the two of them usually charming??

But with those parting words, Roman yeeted himself off the side of the roof while simultaneously summoning rocket boots and flying away as fast as he fucking could before he made more of a fool of himself.

"Wait!" Dee called and Roman awkwardly circled back to the roof.

"What?"

"One, maybe put on your costume, so people don't notice you using rocket boots and figure out who you are."

"Oh right." 

So much for not making a fool of himself. Roman summoned his costume, without bulletproof cloth to save energy.

Dee smirked seeming to have gained his wits again slightly, "And two, we didn't exchange numbers.”

"Oh… right, " Roman was certain he might combust from embarrassment. He pulled out his phone and tapped the "new contact" button. He handed it to Dee who also passed Roman his phone.

He added his information and pushed save, handing it back. Dee handed his phone back having set the contact name to "Declan Acacia". Dee looked at his own screen where Roman had written "Ro ;)". Dee passed a hand over his mouth unsuccessfully attempting to hide a smile.

"Shut up, " Roman fumbled to pocket the phone.

“Goodbye, dear.”

“Goodbye Dee,” He turned away and flew off.


	2. Breakthroughs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this?!?  
> Finally another installment of A grand slam????  
> With moxiety actually fucking talking?? It's more likely than you'd think  
> Also I have a new beta reader and she is the best  
> I forgot to check with her if she wants me to plug her tumblr or anything so I will do that next chapter after I talk to her haha  
> Have fun y'all!

A knock sounded from Virgil's door. 

He excitedly sat taller, remembering too late the pain that lingered in his side. He let out a grunt at the shock of soreness that traveled through him. The doctors said that he was a fast healer and could likely leave tomorrow, but in the meantime, Virgil was dying of boredom. After all, Logan could only visit him when he had free time and even that time was split between Virgil and Remy. 

The time was made slightly more tolerable because Virgil and Remy and started eating together, both of them in mandatory wheelchairs even though Virgil tried to insist he was doing better. Remy was cool, although he didn't seem to ever be as worried as he should be. He could definitely see why Logan liked him. 

"Come in!" He called to the visitor. 

The door opened only a crack then stopped, "Deimos? It's me."

Virgil's heart stopped. 

Patton.

Holy shit! Virgil broke into a dopey grin. Patton hadn't visited him at all since he'd been in the syndicate hospital. Logan said it was just because Patton was busy, but Virgil suspected that was only part of it. After everything that had happened Patton likely just needed space. Which was okay, but Virgil had missed him. 

Virgil's shocked silence had dragged on too long. Patton spoke again gently, "Do you have your mask on?"

"Uh- deh- right!" Virgil fumbled for his mask that sat on the side table. He kept it there in case Patton or Roman came. The doctors, of course, knew who he really was because they needed to see his face.

He slipped the mask on.

"Okay, I'm decent," He said with a huff of laughter. 

The door opened and Patton walked in, "Hey, how are ya holding up?"

"Oh I'm doing great," Virgil said sarcastically, his smile faded a little, "I uh, missed you."

Patton smiled and Virgil had that irrational desire to make it so Patton never had to frown again.

"I missed you too, Dei."

Aaaaaand there it was, that wall between them because Virgil refused to tell Patton his name and Patton (quite reasonably in Virgil's opinion) was unwilling to date someone whose name he didn't know. And it all reverberated as Patton affectionately called him a nickname for a name that wasn't his.

The silence that followed was deafening

Virgil cleared his throat and forced a smile, "What's that?" He asked gesturing to the file in Patton's hand.

"A file on you," Patton said with a shrug, he tugged his mouth to the side thoughtfully, "Julian knew who you are and so do all the guys and as a crime boss I should probably know too…"

"You haven't looked at it yet?" Virgil asked.

Patton shook his head.

"Why?"

"Because much as I want to know your name," Patton took a step forward to hand him the file and returned to where he was standing before, "it won't mean anything unless I hear it from you." He shrugged as if to say 'what can you do?'

"I erm, don't really know what to say…" Virgil rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

"You don't have to say anything! Just uh… _file_ this away for future reference," Patton said with a tentative smile, "I won't breach your trust, Deimos. Not even for the sake of the syndicate."

Virgil wanted to hold Patton's hand at that moment but stopped himself, "Thank you." 

Patton nodded slowly, he looked a little sad, "I just… you can tell me Deimos. I know you don't want me to know because you're scared that I won't like the 'real you'," Patton air quoted around his words, "but if I was okay with you being a man who goes out every night to fight the superheroes, what makes you think I wouldn't like a shy college student who works hard, and listens to Hozier, and likes purple, and makes jewelry?"

"When you put it that way, I don't sound that bad," Virgil said, trying for a joking tone.

"That's because you _aren't_ bad, you're actually really sweet. Will you please let me meet you one of these days?"

The hopeful look on Patton's face melted his fragile resolve.

"Okay Pat, anything you like," Virgil said softly. 

Patton smiled again, "Thank you. I'll see you soon then." Then he walked out, leaving Virgil to think about the rashness for what he had just said.

***

~Meanwhile, a few rooms over.~

"Absolutely not, I refuse," Logan said with no small amount of exasperation, even as he leaned into the feeling of Remy's hand. 

He was resting his head on his arms on the edge of the hospital bed while Remy idly played with his hair as they talked. Logan had been here for a few hours and would have to head home soon.

"Oh c'mon babe, I just want you to drop my number off with him," Remy pleaded, "it's for professional opportunities! I could be a security guard here!"

Logan leveled him with an unimpressed stare, "If you want to be 'fuck buddies' with him you're gonna have to flirt with him yourself _after_ you're sufficiently healed for such activities. Don't deny it, I heard you think about it."

"Alright, alright," Remy's smile faded softly, "How's that whole telepathy thing going for you anyway, Science Boy?"

The corner of Logan's mouth ticked upward slightly, "It's going well actually. I'm beginning to wonder…"

"What?"

"Well the way Patton and I experience our powers is extremely similar and he is able to transmit emotions so I wonder if I might be able to… communicate thoughts."

A grin slowly slid over Remy's face. "Oh, that would be so fucking cool! Have you tried?" He asked.

"Not yet," Logan hesitated, "Would you be willing to try it with me?"

'Yeah dumbass, go for it. Why'd you even ask?' Remy thought with a smirk. He closed his eyes and seemed to be listening very intently. 

Logan could hear him wondering if this would work. He focused his thoughts in Remy's direction, thinking of something that he had been thinking frequently as of late.

'I was terrified when you got hurt.' It was embarrassing because perhaps they hadn't known each other all that long but Logan… _cared_ for Remy.

Remy's eyes flew open, opening his mouth to speak. 

Then closed it.

"What?" Logan asked.

"I thought I heard you say something but…" He trailed off. 'It was probably just my imagination,' he finished mentally; Logan ignored it.

"But what?" Logan asked sitting forward in his chair, "what did you hear me say?"

This might be a scientific breakthrough! 

'Did he say, "I care about you?"' Remy finally thought out fully, clearly not at Logan.

"Nevermind I just imagined it, don't worry abou-"

"Three things to consider," Logan interrupted gently, "One, I hear your thoughts, I know what you think I said."

Logan held up his fingers as he spoke. "Two, that is what I was thinking." He had at least managed to communicate some part of that.

Remy reached for his sunglasses as he often did when he was feeling emotional. He slid them on. 

Logan averted his eyes feeling that even with the sunglasses the eye contact was a bit too much, "And three, if you were unsure of that fact until now you have my sincerest apologies."

"Yeah well…" Remy flipped his hand in an attempt at appearing casual, "I love you too, Science Boy."

They sat for a moment in quiet. Remy grabbed Logan's hand where it rested on the bed. Logan squeezed slightly in response.

Logan cleared his throat, "Right, well, when do you expect to be out?"

"Not long, they had to observe me and the V-man all this time cuz we both got pretty nasty breaks. They say it'll be two-three days and they'll let me out in either a chair or on crutches; then it's a fuck-ton of physical therapy for me," Remy laughed.

"Then you'll be out soon, good. Then we will gather everyone and have a decent meal together, it has been a while since we have done that."

Logan was aware he would have suggested no such thing a mere four months ago but times had changed.

"Sounds fun,” Remy agreed easily enough, “but the question is, will you invite Virgil, or Deimos?"

"They are the same person?" Logan uttered. He wasn’t sure what Remy meant, he had already found out Virgil's secret identity.

"Yeah, but will he arrive as himself or will he arrive in costume?" He explained.

"Oh… I suppose that's up to him. I almost forgot that there were still secrets to keep," Logan was… oh, how to phrase this eloquently? Getting sick of this shit.

“They’ll get over it soon, babe, believe me, I’ve seen them together while they wait for Roman to show up. They pine like its a sport and they want to qualify for the Olympics.”

Logan let out an amused scoff, “Speaking of which, now that Virgil is getting out we’re going to have to go through with the plan to get Dee on as the hero.”

“You always are doing so many things, I’m not sure that you will ever actually rest,” Remy said shaking his head.

“Well, someone has to. Which is why I must return home and get some work done,” Logan said rising from his chair.

Remy rolled his eyes, “Alright. Bye, Science Boy.”

“Goodbye,” Logan inclined his head and walked to the door.

As he left Remy called out, “Love you, Nerd!”

He sighed, letting his head hang in what he _hoped_ looked like playful annoyance but truly was just him restraining himself from turning around to spend more time with his friend.

“I love you too.”

***

Logan made it to his apartment building soon enough and as he was climbing the stairs his phone began ringing.

“Hello?”

A woman’s voice spoke from the other end, “Hello, Mr. Cuinn.”

Logan stopped and leaned against the wall, “May I inquire as to whom I’m speaking with?”

“Wright Enterprises.”

Oh for the love of Tesla, of course it was, “Look ma’am, I know you are just a secretary but could you please explain to your employer that I am uninterested in all of her offers. My research is my intellectual property and I am entirely within my rights to keep it for my own use at any point of my choosing.”

“Yes, I thought you might say that, which is why I called you myself this time,” she said.

“Myself?” so he was speaking directly with Robin Wright?

“Indeed, and not to worry, this will be my final offer,” She chuckled lightly, “you give me your research and I won’t have to conduct my own.”

Logan allowed his annoyance to appear in his tone rather than even attempting to be friendly, “I fail to see how that is supposed to benefit me.”

“Well, for my results to be consistent with what you found in your research, I would need to have the same subjects to start with before expanding the program.”

“That is definitely not how the scientific method works and even if it was it would be impossible. I’m afraid all my subjects chose to remain anonymous,” Logan said, patience wearing thin.

“Oh, my naive, respected, colleague, nothing is anonymous these days, certainly not when you own most electronics manufacturers. Funny how most every phone and computer has both video and audio recording capabilities which can be directly streamed to a separate third party with the right software installation,” She laughed sweetly, “You don't have to answer right now but you should soon. Now run along, Roman is making dinner and he worked hard on it, you shouldn’t be late."

The line went dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm alive! Sorry it took so long but I came out as trans to my parents and they didn't accept me so I have the big depression™ and finals at school kicked my ass so! Here we are back at it again
> 
> Also remember there's a discord server for the fic! (and I can personally assure you that everyone in there is very cool)  
> If you want a link there is one in the beginning notes of chapter one or it that doesn't work ask for one in the comments and I'll send you one
> 
> Thanks for reading


	3. More Than a "Yikes", At Least an "Oof"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhhhhh hi guys  
> Okay um warnings:  
> Sympathetic remus, implied torture (not on a main character), kidnapping (also not a main character), graphics descriptions  
> Okay have fun kiddos!

"Boss we have to do something about them. If they think they can just get away with this, they'll walk all over us!”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll figure something out, Nathaniel. Just talk to them!"

"Yeah, yeah. You know you haven't been doing much else since you took over, have ya?" And with that Nathaniel hung up on Patton. He felt a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Well, that was a disaster!" 

Patton jumped at the voice that was suddenly right behind him.

“Remus! When did you come in?”

“Just a minute ago,” Remus shot a toothy grin. He reminded Patton of an alligator sometimes, adorable in the ‘I could kill you’ kind of way.

“Well, could you please not listen in on my private conversations?” Patton tensed as Remus circled him, looking him up and down.

"Well sure, I could _theoretically_ do that but let's be real here, I'm not gonna. That thing with Nate though? That's bad news Pattycake."

That nickname was new.

“No, no, I can fix this. It’ll be a _piece of cake_ ,” Patton’s voice didn’t sound convincing even to his own ears. What was he gonna do? He was already losing people's support and it has only been a month! And of course this came just a couple of days before the semester started!

“Whatever you say, It’s three o'clock and you haven’t eaten so much as a dick since you showed up here this morning. Do you want me to order something from the kitchens?”

Patton looked out at the city below him, it was raining. He didn’t know how Remus knew he hadn’t eaten, “No thank you, I have to do something.”

Remus shrugged and casually answered, “Fine, starve then.” Despite the tone he was trying to use, he felt offended and made for the door. He must think Patton was saying no simply because it was _him_ who offered it.

“Remus I really do appreciate it, I just have to leave in a minute. Maybe we could eat dinner together, tomorrow evening?” Patton said trying to smooth whatever this was over. Julian had said that he was working on reeling Remus in somewhat. There was nothing saying that Patton couldn’t keep up with the job while he was here.

Remus pulled up short mid-stride. The shock that rolled through him made Patton’s heartache sympathetically. Had it really been so long since someone had offered him a genuine invitation? 

Remus grinned mischievously, “Oh Pattycake this is gonna be _fun_!” And with that, he left, laughing happily if not a bit maniacally/

Patton shook off the concerns he had and pulled out his phone, scrolling through his contacts to the number he had been given in case he needed advice. He pressed call.

“Hello, Julian? Can we talk?”

Julian sounded concerned but didn’t hesitate, “Sure come on over. The kids are here but as long as you don’t bring any trouble with you, you can join us for dinner.”

“Thank you.”

***

Patton went to the address Julian had sent him, which led him to a surprisingly average house in the suburbs. Rain was pooling in puddles on the sidewalk soaking his shoes as he walked to the front door. Gosh, what a rain in the neck.

It was a much nicer place than where he had grown up. He knocked on the door and it opened a moment later by a short human around six years old. 

“Oh my gosh, you’re really here,” The tiny human breathed out, staring at Patton with wide eyes.

“Hello! You must be Andy, your dad talks about you all the time,” Patton held out a hand to him.

“He does?!” He said taking Patton's hand but seeming to forget to shake it. 

Patton laughed, shook his hand and released him, “Of course!”

“Andy, let the poor boy in before he catches his death in that rain!” Julian’s voice called from inside the house.

“Oh! Right! Sorry!” Andy scampered out of the way but continued staring at Patton in awe. Patton laughed good-naturedly and shut the door behind him as he entered. There was a couch and a kitchen table, but there were piles of boxes in several places around the room and the walls were bare.

Julian was standing in the kitchen cooking. He was wearing a purple apron and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, “Heya Patton, welcome to our new place! Just moved in after the, uh, split with the kid's mother and we're still unpacking, so sorry about the mess. You've already met Andrew and," He gestured to the small girl next to him, "Maia."

Maia hopped down from the stool she was standing on, still holding the spoon she had been stirring with. She ran over to Patton and glared at him.

"Are you nice?!" She demanded, hands on her hips. 

"Maia," Julian said tiredly. A hint of amusement radiating from him.

Patton crouched down and said, "I think so."

"Good because Andy really likes you heroes and if you make him cry I'm telling mom," She said wagging her spoon at him. Julian appeared to be barely restraining laughter. 

The amount of rage radiating from her small self was honestly pretty impressive. She seemed like she was a moment from whacking Patton with the spoon if he stepped out of line.

"Don't worry, I promise to be nice," Patton held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay," She said casting him one last doubtful look before running back to join Julian at the counter. Patton laughed and stood up.

Julian was quietly reminding Maia to be polite to guests and she was unhappy about it. A soft noise got his attention.

“Are you really like me?” Andy asked.

“Andrew Penn!” Julian said his voice suddenly sharp. He moved to stand next to Andy. 

“Like… you?” Patton said confused.

“Yea-” Andy began before being interrupted by his father.

“He means someone who wants to help people,” Julian cut in too quickly. Patton could feel the dishonesty and fear from him. 

Patton spoke carefully, slowly, “Julian, does Andy have powers?”

“Kids, go to your rooms.”

The two of them ran from the living room, sensing the tension.

A door slammed shut down the hall, “Patton, be aware, I am not above killing a man for my kids. There's is nothing you could do to stop me if you breathe a word of this to anyone.”

“Julian I would never!” Patton exclaimed.

Julian seemed to go slack. He looked older again, that same aged tiredness that had hung on him in the limo that night he quit.

“I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry but… with the way things are for superhumans… well, I hardly need to tell you.”

Patton nodded, “I get it. His secret is safe with me. What can he do?”

“He freezes time we think, or maybe he can just move so fast that it seems to him that time has stopped,” He shrugged a bit helplessly.

“And he idolizes you boys and that scares the everliving hell out of me but I can’t just dismiss his interest here and I’ve been trying so hard to get him to like something else like- fucking- transformers! I don’t know! Just something that isn’t gonna get him killed.”

“But he needs someone like him to look up to and Emily thinks it’s my fault because I exposed him to you all and-”

Patton cut in gently, “Wait who’s Emily?”

“My wife,” He winced, “Ex-wife. We’re just trying to raise him well because he deserves so much better than any of you have gotten. Like Remus? He just needs a little attention that isn’t someone telling him that he’s bad for his thoughts. I can’t let that happen to Andy.”

“You’re doing great Julian.”

Julian sighed and Patton could feel that he didn't agree, "What did you need anyway kid?"

"It's... the syndicate."

Patton explained the problem.

Julian frowned as he made four plates of food and set them on the dining room table, passing Patton napkins to lay out on the table, "Here's the trouble, I know exactly what _I_ would do. You already have deviated from that, which is good! You can't act just like me. I can't tell you what to do exactly but- MAIA, ANDY WASH UP FOR DINNER- I _can_ tell you what will happen if things keep going this way."

Andy and Maia ran out, clearly having not washed up but Julian seemed unconcerned, "Okay, just a moment Patton. Andy, I’m sorry for having snapped at you, that was not an appropriate reaction. You assumed Patton was trustworthy, which he was. You were right in this case."

"See? I told you they were good people," Andy said smugly.

"That said, you can't just tell people who you've known for five minutes. That's very dangerous. Understand?" 

Andy wilted, "Yeah… sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, just keep it in mind okay?"

"Okay," Andy pouted.

They all settled down to the table.

"So, as I was saying if things keep going as they are you'll end up like me and you might not be so lucky in finding a replacement. If they're getting restless under your leadership they will eventually break unless you do something."

"Yikes."

Julian raised an eyebrow, "No, son, this is more than a 'yikes', it's at least an 'oof'."

Patton smiled in spite of himself, "Well… thanks for the information.”

Julian shrugged, "Yeah, well, despite the circumstances I like you boys."

"Mr. Patton?" Andy said, sounding nervous.

"Yes?" Patton said trying not to laugh at the idea of being called ‘mister’.

"I was wondering…" He cast a nervous glance at his sister who gestured impatiently for him to continue, "If you can come to dinner again with- with your friends?" He looked at Patton with puppy dog eyes and _dog_ gone it how was Patton supposed to say no?

"Well, that would probably be up to your dad mostly. And I would need to talk to my friends about it."

"Please Daddy?" Maia said, her tone implying more of a demand than a question.

Julian sighed, flipping through fear, mild frustration, affection, and landing squarely on resignation, "I suppose if they aren't too busy."

"Yes!" The two kids said in unison.

***

When Patton made it back home Virgil appeared out of his bedroom.

"Oh, you're back! You were visiting your grandparents right?" Patton asked pleasantly.

"Sorry, Pat I'd love to er- catch up but Logan just messaged me a while ago. Apparently, he's been trying to get a hold of you for like an hour now? We were about to go look for you, he seems worried."

"What??" Patton pulled out his phone and saw five missed calls and texts. 

The door opened behind Patton, he turned around to see who it was. It was Logan and there were waves of anxiety rolling off of him so much so that it was affecting Patton’s own heart rate.

"Oh thank God, I thought you might have been…” He trailed off vaguely, “Nevermind it doesn't matter. Patton, I need to speak to you, preferably in a room with no electronic devices."

"O...kay?" Patton could feel how serious Logan was about all this.

"Virgil, you too." 

Patton set down his phone on the kitchen counter and walked to the bathroom with Logan.

"What's up?" Patton asked.

"We are being monitored by Write Enterprises through every electronic device and she knows who took part in the experiment. She intends to kidnap everyone involved so you two, myself, Remy, Roman, Dee, and put us through tests to find the information I found."

“Shit,” Virgil breathed.

"Oh my goodness," Patton added eyes wide, "Wait, uh, Logan this seems like private business, no offense Virgil but why were you in the experiment?"

"Fucking Christ I am awful at this!" Logan whispered with a flare of rage directed at himself, "stop telling me secrets! Stop thinking about your secrets! I'm bad at keeping them apparently!"

"I uh, have powers Pat," Virgil said nervously.

Tonight was full of surprises, "Oh, you do? What kind?"

"Erm-"

Logan interrupted impatiently, "Terribly sorry but I already put off telling you for twenty-four hours and we have no time. Patton, do you think you can put your people on finding out who's responsible for leaking our data?"

'Logan, Virgil is right there!' Patton exclaimed mentally.

"Fuck!" Logan exclaimed again, "look there's no time for secrets right now can you do it or not?"

"Yes, I'll call Nathanial now. Wait, is that okay? Using the phone?"

Logan said throwing up his hands in a shrug, "We don't have much choice." his nervous energy was filling the room and flowing into Patton who was then radiating stress and it was creating a terrible loop.

"Virgil I'm sorry about this, we can explain later okay?" Patton said leaving the room.

"Okay," he said weakly.

***

The next day Patton spent all day at the office arranging for armed guards to follow the others everywhere. The rain hadn’t let up and it only added to Patton’s _stormy_ mood. When it was approaching dinner time he got a call from Nathaniel.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Boss we found the guy who gave them their information we've got him down here in the interrogation room."

"I'll be right there."

Patton hung up and walked out the door. He started walking down the hall when a voice called, "Pattycake, wait up!" 

Patton stopped and turned, Remus was running toward him. 

"Hey, there,” Patton greeted him, “I might be late for dinner, I need to figure out how to deal with someone who-"

"Who has all but assured the slow and painful death of you and your friends _I know_ Logan mentioned it when he stopped by today. By the way, Remy was discharged today."

"Oh, that's good!" Patton said trying to smile. He wondered if this “slow and painful death” Part was Logan’s words or one or Remus’s er- colorful embellishments.

"Yeah, so anyway, why do you look like you got stabbed and have been bleeding out for the past half hour."

"What??" Patton asked pushing the button to call the elevator.

"Pale and shaky." Okay, the bleeding out analogy had been unnecessary but Remus seemed genuinely concerned. So that was nice.

"It's just, I'm… I’m just not sure what to do with this whole syndicate thing honestly. I don't want Nathaniel or the guys to have to kill people they're good guys…" Patton explained. The elevator arrived with a soft ding and Patton climbed in.

Remus stepped in after him with a laugh, "Pfft no they're not. They're thieves, murderers, and convicts. Nothing good about any of us. Polite? Maybe. Nice? Could be. But good? Oh no Pattycake, we're bad people." 

Patton stood in stunned silence for a moment, "Well I don't want to be a bad person."

"Never said you were. The rest of us are. If you keep trying to change that you’re just gonna end up hurt. That’s not a threat either, just the truth. It’s like- it’s like- do you like to cook?”

“Yes?” The elevator pinged and the door opened, letting them out on the floor where the interrogation room was.

“Okay, okay, when you drop a knife, do you try to catch it mid-air?”

“No, of course not?” Patton was confused about where this was going.

“Exactly Pattycake, of course not. You’d end up getting your fingers cut off! Blood gushing everywhere then the food is ruined, possible infection-”

“Remus, buddy, is there a point to this?” Patton interrupted with a nose wrinkle.

“The point is, you just let the knife drop and you jump out of the way. Let falling knives fall. You don’t interfere and risk getting hurt when it's easier and safer to just let the knives do what they’re gonna.”

They had arrived at the door of the interrogation room.

“I just don’t want to have an angry _mob_ on my hands,” Patton joked weakly.

“Then let them do what they already want to do,” Remus said almost gently, “Any blood spilled will be on their hands. It’s not your job to reform criminals Patty just let them do what they’re gonna do.”

Patton glanced through the two-way mirror that served as a window into the interrogation room. Inside a man sat, handcuffed to a chair, His lower lip bleeding. It was almost hard to imagine he was responsible for giving away all their secrets.

“But if I let them do bad things doesn’t that make it my fault too?”

Remus shrugged, “Well if you don't let them, then they'll get rid of you and I’ll be in charge and I’ll let them do those things anyway so…”

Patton smiled, there was some dishonesty in what Remus was saying. He was just trying to make it seem like Patton had no choice. He was taking the blame for something that hadn’t happened yet. Patton pulled Remus into a hug, “Thank you.”

“Ew affection,” Remus said even as Patton felt relief flood through the other man. Patton knew that feeling, a hug after a very long time of being touch starved.

Patton pulled back. The truth was he didn’t _really_ need that pep talk it helped sure but in the end, Patton had already resolved to do whatever was necessary to keep his friends safe. It was nice to know that it didn’t make him a bad guy. He took a deep breath, put a hand on the doorknob, and pushed the door open.

“Ah boss, we got the guy,” Nathaniel said by way of greeting.

“I can see that,” Patton said trying his best to come off as confident, “I’m Patton Gaudy, though I’m sure you already know that. What’s your name?”

“Axel Ferris, just please, please let me go.” 

"I just need you to tell them how you got into private devices and how to stop it from happening again."

"Please I have kids, a family-" This was a lie and not a very good one, Patton wouldn’t have needed his powers to know it.

Patton frowned, "All I need is the information."

"I can't tell you, I don't know!" Another lie. 

Patton scowled at the man.

"Boss, it looks like we're gonna have to do some uh, special convincing if you want that information."

Oh, they wanted to hurt him. 

Patton glanced at the mirror, thinking of Remus's advice.

"Do what you have to do. I trust your judgment, Nathaniel."

Patton strode out of the room feeling sick. The door swing shut behind him. 

"So that's the guy. Honestly never would have pegged him for it," A voice spoke drawing his attention. 

"Dee, when did you get here?" 

"Just as you went in," Dee tilted his head and look at Patton appraisingly, "You did good Pat."

"You sure?" 

"Oh for the love of fuck, of course, you did good, you're you!" Remus said impatiently.

Dee rolled his eyes, "Alright Pat c'mon we got a dinner to go to, Logan's having everybody over. Remy, Deimos, Ro, maybe Virgil. Then we’ll all head out and do the whole making-me-Roman’s-sidekick thing."

Remus immediately radiated hurt, anger, embarrassment.

"Sorry, but Remus and I were going to eat together," Patton said. He felt that hurricane of emotion come crashing to a halt, “I’ll meet you guys afterward”

"Aww Pattycake, you _do_ care!"

Dee looked Remus up and down feeling confused and nervous.

"Well… bring him too. We have extra food."

"Oh, that sounds nice!" Patton said cheerfully. He looked at Remus, “Would you like to go? If not we can still have dinner just you and me.”

He stood there, mouth hanging open, feeling shocked. There was a long pause, "Uh….. yes?" 

"Good! You'll love Deimos, he's great! And your brother will be there but don't worry, we won't let him cause trouble," Patton exclaimed heading toward the elevator.

“Okay, Pattycake.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How bout that? Patton is just out here making friends with dark sides and also comprising his morals for the sale of protecting his loved ones!  
> Yay!  
> Also Julian makes his return to concerned crime dad
> 
> Edit 1/16/20: hi, I'm trash! I forgot to put beta Reader's Tumblr username!  
> She is: sky-army-rules  
> Please give her a follow she does such good art and is such a good human


	4. Jetpack Blues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **IMPORTANT MESSAGE**  
>  Okay kiddos things start getting really intense this chapter and if all goes to plan will continue to be intense for the next chapter or two so heed the content warnings okay?
> 
>  **WARNINGS** :  
> Unhealthy coping mechanisms, jokes about alcoholism which are really only half joking, sympathetic Remus from here on out, and kidnapping
> 
> And finally this chapter has a song!
> 
> Jetpack Blues by Fall Out Boy

Roman had been stressed all day. It had hardly stopped raining, there was the kidnapping threat (and Patton's guards had yet to arrive), and then Logan had spent the day pushing him to get the apartment clean so they could have everyone over for dinner. 

Logan and Remy had been hard at work for the past hour cooking and Dee had gone to pick up Patton so they would be here soon. Logan said that Virgil might come as well. Roman was planning on finally solidifying things with Dee. 

But then Dee and Patton brought the trash in with them.

“Remus, what are you doing here?” Roman demanded. In reality, he didn't hate Remus but there were still a lot of things they hadn't resolved; admittedly his twin was tough to be around.

“Hello, brother mine! I'm afraid I'm Pattycake’s plus one!” Remus exclaimed with a smirk.

“Yep!” Patton agreed from the kitchen where he was already helping Logan and Remy finish cooking.

“Patton, he’s your date?!” Roman gasped in betrayal. How could Patton just immediately start dating Remus? Hadn't he been with Deimos anyway??

“What?” Another voice at the door said.

Roman looked up and saw Virgil standing in the doorway. Funny, from the sound of the voice, Roman had thought it _was Deimos_ for a second.

“Hello,” Logan said glancing over with a smile which melted into a strange look. But Logan was always getting strange expressions on his face, Virgil was probably just thinking about something weird.

“Virgil! It’s been so long since I've seen you! Hi!” Roman said standing up.

“Oh right, hey Ro. How's life?”

Roman shrugged, “It’s alright, I have a boyfriend now,” he said, feeling this was a good time to bring it up.

Declan whipped around to look at Roman, “Boyfriend? But I thought we?”

Roman rolled his eyes, “That’s you.”

“It is???”

“Isn’t it?” Roman arched an eyebrow, a challenge.

“Yes!” Dee turned red, "I mean, I suppose so, it doesn't sound _too_ awful. I guess it would only be charitable of me to date someone when I'm way out of their league." 

"Well, Dee, of course we aren't in the same league, honey. I'm way too hot for you," Roman grinned.

Dee walked toward him, placing his hands on Roman's waist, "You're insufferable." His words were made much less believable when he gently pressed his lips against Roman's.

“Oh my god, get a room!” A familiar voice interrupted, killing the moment.

"Remus! That had been building for like a year now! What kind of hellspawn interrupts the resolution of a year of pining?" Roman gasped in exasperation.

"The kind who knew you two were going to fuck from the moment I saw you two together."

"In fairness, he did refer to me as your boyfriend that night he blew up the bank. Classy move by the way," Dee said.

"Thank you," Remus did a small bow.

"Whether or not he's right is so not the point, he shouldn't even have butted in any way!"

“Yeah, why are you here by the way?” Virgil asked. He was Roman’s favorite. This is why they were friends because Virgil would always match Roman in the bitch department.

“Well Patton and I _were_ going to have dinner, but he had to come here so I came along.”

“Oh…” Virgil responded slowly.

“Virgil, stop panicking, they aren’t dating. Just do what you came here to do since we both know you aren’t planning on staying for dinner if it doesn’t go well,” Logan snapped, dropping the spoon onto the counter just a little too hard.

Remy peered over the top of his shades, “Babe, are you okay? Your whole vibe changed real quick there.”

“Yeah, it did…” Patton said tensely. 

Everyone was looking at Logan now and Logan was glaring at Virgil. That was weird. He _never_ glared at Virgil. 

“Lo?” Virgil said gently. He clearly seemed just as freaked out as everyone else.

“You know that this is an immature way to handle this. Give him a reasonable opportunity to accept, he certainly deserves that after the actions you’ve taken.”

Virgil's tone was defensive as he responded, “You know exactly why I’m doing it this way. If this is gonna work out then it’s gotta happen this way. I need to know that it’s real and not just because of… other factors. This is the best way to do it.”

“FALSEHOOD! It's- it's illogical! And unreasonable, and frankly cruel!” Logan untied his apron, tossing it at the counter and stomped off to his room.

Remy followed him, looking confused, "Logan? What's happening??" The door shut behind them.

“Virgil, what the fuck was that about?” Roman said.

Virgil just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively, “Nothing just uh, er- Patton can I talk to you?”

“Sure thing...” Patton was literally radiating nervousness, "What's up? Is this about your powers?”

“Wait, your what?!” Roman demanded. “You have powers?! Holy shit, me too bro! I’m the Knight!”

“I'm Fae,” Dee said, waving a hand.

“I know, and no that's not what this is about,” Virgil said, blowing them off. 

He knew??? How did he know????? Also rude.

“Well what _is_ this about? Must be a pretty _powerful_ statement for Logan to have reacted that way,” Patton said with a nervous smile.

“Would you like to possibly maybe go out for coffee sometime?” Virgil said rushing his words out all in one breath. 

Oh, cool. Roman thought that Virgil was already over Patton, but like, hey, whatever. 

Patton looked surprised, “Oh… OH! Hey, all your feelings make sense now! I thought I was picking up stray traces of attraction from you but you always avoided me so I wasn’t sure! And I thought I annoyed you or something! But you _like_ me that makes- oh wait. Shoot." 

He paused and took a breath.

"Um, I’m sorry Virgil I just don’t feel that way about you…” Patton said gently.

Virgil immediately went into panic mode, "Oh uh- yeah, sure, no prob. I just thought I would, you know, see. Uh yeah, I’ll just uh go haha.” 

And with that, he left practically inhumanly fast. Why did he leave? That seemed really… pathetic honestly. Like you get turned down so you flip out and run off? Damn Virge, not your shining moment.

“Well, that went well,” Remus commented plucking a noodle out of the strainer. 

Logan came out almost immediately with Remy following after, "He left?" 

He must have heard Virgil's thoughts receding away.

"No I heard the door slam, I suppose you turned him down then?"

"Yes, why did he go?? What's happening??" Patton asked.

Logan huffed in frustration, "For the love of Archimedes, that's it, I warned him that if he didn't tell you I would."

"Oh yes that's not vague," Dee rolled his eyes.

Logan leveled him with an unimpressed look, before soldiering on, "Virgil is Deimos. With the things we're dealing with these secrets are foolish to keep. You all really should know. Although I suppose Remus was already aware."

Roman took a long pause and eventually murmured, "That rat bastard!" 

All those months that he would go out and fight Roman only to come back and discuss the injuries they both sustained? And not a word? No wonder Roman hadn't seen him for so long, he broke his ribs!

"He's…" Patton trailed off, "Oh dear…"

Oh dear indeed.

***

The others, meaning Patton, Roman, Logan, and Dee all assumed Virgil would stop hiding and turn up for this hero stunt, but Remy and Remus knew better. There was only one place a man in his situation would go right now. 

It was a place that men such as him had been congregating since ancient times.

The bar. 

Specifically, the bar _Coping Mechanism_ , which was named after the reason for much of their business. 

It was run by two men so irresponsible that despite the laws they didn’t even check IDs until the third or fourth drink at the soonest and it was surely Virgil's most likely destination.

So they decided to get a jump on things and try to find him before he was deemed officially missing by the other. Remy drove, Remus commented on how many points each pedestrian would be worth if run over.

They parked next to the establishment and went inside. Remus conjured up a fake ID just in case and Remy didn't need one because he was twenty-three. It made him realize just how many crimes he had been involved in since he became friends with Logan. 

But as they say, ‘be gay, do crime.’

Virgil sat at the bar in his costume and a solid ten feet of space between him and the other patrons. Everyone eyed him nervously wondering why he was here. This left open stools on either side of him and he was soon flanked by Remy and Remus.

“You gonna tell on me?” Virgil asked taking another gulp of the golden brown liquid he was consuming. He clearly had had too much already from the way he swayed on the stool.

“Bitch please,” Remy rolled his eyes, “We don't need to, Logan and Patton already know you're off somewhere throwing a tantrum.”

“Which incidentally means you have time to tell us why you acted like a clown tonight!" Remus said brightly, sliding Virgil's glass away from him and finishing the contents.

"My suspi- sus- worries were right. Patton cares for Deimos but he wouldn’t like _me_.”

Remy and Remus exchanged a look and simultaneously smacked his shoulder on both sides.

“Ay, what was that for?!”

“You’re an idiot.”

Remus grinned, “If there was a king of stupid town you just assassinated him with a gunshot to the spine and took the throne.”

“He cares for you so he was turning Virgil-you down because he didn’t want to give up on Deimos-you,” Remy said with an eye roll, "Which by the way he knows that you're Deimos now."

Virgil pouted, “Well still it doesn’t mean he-” Virgil’s phone rang interrupting him. He picked it up to look at the screen.

“Nuh-uh not answering, it’s Patton,” He said setting the phone face down on the bar.

Remus clicked his tongue and picked up the phone, “Hello, oh hi snookums.”

“Don’ call ‘im that!” Virgil said suddenly offended.

“Yes, he’s with me and Coffee Bean.”

Remy frowned and scrunched his eyebrows down, “Is that me?”

Remus nodded shooting Remy a smirk, then he refocused on Patton, "He’s fine, fucking sloshed though. Wouldn’t be surprised if he woke up in a ditch tomorrow if we hadn’t found him.”

“I had it handled!” Virgil belied his point by nearly toppling off the stool.

Remus rolled his eyes evidently deciding to ignore Virgil in favor of telling Patton where they were, “Coping Mechanism, you know, the bar?..... Yes, I’m aware it’s in poor taste Pattycake. God, you sound like Emile sometimes….. Kay see you soon bye.”

Virgil gasped, “Why’d you tell him where I am?!”

“Because you two need to talk. Whose Emile?” Remy said moving on.

“My boyfriend, he’s a psychologist," Remus had a dreamy sort of look on his face at the thought of the other man.

“Wait Emile _Picani_?!” Virgil demanded.

“Yeah, do you know him?” Remus asked excitedly.

“He’s my favorite teacher…” Virgil said collapsing on the bar, “I thought he was a smart guy.”

Remus's face shifted to the first real show of anger Remy had seen from him, “Hey you know what’s smart? Your drunk ass not insulting me, or my boyfriend unless you wanna wake up with one less kneecap."

“Okay okay babes," Remy said holding up his hands. How did he become a babysitter?

"How bout we just calm down and Patton will be here in no time to take you home. We’ll go and wait under the awning in a few minutes since he can’t technically come inside and we know he won’t break the law.”

“Which is funny when you think about his profession,” Remus commented.

***

It was raining worse than ever now. It had been two days now, when would it let up?

“Dei, come home," Patton said softly to the familiar silhouette standing in the doorway of the bar. He knew Virgil was in costume, so he couldn't use his real name. Deimos would have to do for a little longer. 

Patton wanted to give him room so he was a few feet back standing in the rain. Remy had given Patton his jacket as he and Remus retreated back into the bar to give them space. It was too long and hung strangely on his frame, the rain rolled off the leather easily 

"So Logan told you."

"Yes just please come on, we don't even have to go home. We can do the pretend kidnapping thing or we could just drive around. We just need to talk." 

"What is there to talk bout? I did the thing and tried to like- talk to you as normal me but you didn't want to and thas okay you just- you just gotta not make me talk bout feelings cuz then I will do somethin' dumb like cry or some shit," Virgil slurred.

Patton was very patient but even he had limits, "So... what? I'm supposed to just leave you to sulk in a bar because you wanna pout and drink more? _You_ drag _me_ along for all these months letting me believe there is mutual feelings and then when you finally- _finally_ make a move and ask me out you do it in the _meanest_ way possible?? I don't deserve that! I liked you because you were selfless and brave and you cared about me and tonight you just acted like- like a coward!" Patton yelled. He yelled and there were tears streaming down his face with the raindrops.

Virgil flinched at the last word but Patton couldn't take it back.

"I- I love you, Deimos and that's what makes this so… sucky! I know you're scared but I am too! And I gave you chance after chance to tell me who you were! And you know what else I never demanded that you tell me before we started dating! Like sure eventually would be good but I just wanted to be with you, whatever version you were ready to let me see, ' Patton's voice broke.

"You love me?" Virgil asked, stepping out into the rain. He stumbled a little, how much had he been drinking?

"Yes, I love you!" Patton said, throwing his hands up in exasperation, "I give you a folder full of top secret information about you without reading it, I asked you to stay with me overnight when I was scared, I became a mob boss because I wanted to keep you safe for heaven's sake! How do you not know I love you?"

"You never said…" 

Patton sighed, "You'll have to forgive me, it's not too encouraging when the man you love kisses you, waits till you fall asleep, and sneaks out."

"I'm a _jerk_ ," Virgil said as if in shock, "why th' fuck do you still love me?? I mean, it's so so good and I lo-"

Patton didn't find out how that word ended because that's when they grabbed Virgil. And then they grabbed Patton too.

***

Remus couldn't pinpoint exactly when each of them was taken all he knew was that he went to the bathroom and when he got back Remy was gone and so were Patton and Virgil. He called Roman but he didn't pick up, neither did Dee and he didn't have anyone else's number so he made his way to the syndicate.

If Wright wanted Patton or his brother or even Logan, she was going to have to try a lot harder than that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *looks at chapter that ended with Roman being shot back in Like pancakes*  
> Me: you call that a cliffhanger? THIS is a cliffhanger
> 
> Sorry not sorry love y'all


	5. Different Kinds of Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey kiddos 
> 
> This chapter is really rough and there's a whole laundry list of trigger warnings but before we get to that please know that you can skip this chapter at any pint and just jump to the end notes where I'll give a brief vague description of the events so don't miss anything  
> Now...  
>  _ **The Warnings:**_   
> kidnapping, restraints, use of sedatives, starving, references to eating disorders, PTSD, transphobia, Patton being honestly kinda intimidating, death mention (repeatedly)
> 
> To be clear Robin Wright is absolutely in no way sympathetic
> 
> Sorry for the angst

Robin Wright was apparently no fool. She must have heard how Remus had managed to escape from prison and decided to not give Roman the same opportunity. 

Roman didn’t know how long he had been in this room but he was tired. 

It was late, he had tried to fight off his abductors, he had been cleaning all day, oh yeah and Wright had injected him with something that had knocked him out at first so that probably wasn't helping.

The exhaustion weighed heavily on him, he could barely keep his eyes open much less summon anything. And he supposed that was probably the point.

"Tell me, Mr. Regis, " she said sitting on the other side of the thick glass door, her voice streaming in through the speaker in the wall, "what is your relationship with Logan Cuinn?"

"Let me out," He demanded, his forceful tone belittled by the yawn that immediately followed.

"Things will go smoother if you cooperate."

Roman frowned, people always said that in movies, "No, you'll just kill me if I give you everything you need to know. I need to keep secrets, so I can get out and save my friends."

"Oh, didn't you know?" She questioned, her look turned suddenly sympathetic.

Roman blinked slowly, "What?"

"None of the others were taken as of yet,” She explained, “We assumed that we could get enough information out of you that we wouldn't have to take anyone else. It was a risky move I suppose, as you might hold out hope for them saving you."

"They will!" Roman exclaimed.

"Oh, will they? It is nearly five in the morning, Mr. Regis. We've had you for over eight hours now. If they're coming they aren't exactly the fastest of heroes, are they?"

Eight hours? Where were they? 

Was Roman really on his own?

"So Mr. Regis, let's try and get you out of here as efficiently as possible and get on to the questions and the blood tests, hmm?"

***

On the next floor up the extremely hungover emo slowly blinked awake. The last thing he remembered was trying to fight off some attacker and in his drunken state, he slipped on the wet pavement and hit his head on the curb. 

Now the question was, ‘which part of his evening caused the throbbing headache’? He squinted around the room, it was just a box of metal. There were no doors or windows or anything to sit on and the only things that interrupted the clean expanses of metal were a few fixtures on the ceiling. A light, a vent, and next to them a speaker. 

The walls were far enough apart that he couldn't touch both at the same time and the ceiling was easily fifteen feet up. So basically there was no way in hell he was reaching that vent anytime soon. He was barefoot too. They had taken his goddamn shoes. Bastards.

"LET ME OUT YOU FUCKING FUCKS!" He punched the wall testing the strength of the metal. Not a dent. What was this room made of?

There was the click of a speaker turning on and a feminine voice spoke, "No need for that language Mr. Timor. You've just been volunteered for a special scientific study so If you'll just answer a few questions for us."

***

Remy was cooperating but only because he knew three things. 

One, Patton and Virgil had also been taken. So that meant that they had probably all been brought to wherever this place is.

Two, he didn't have powers or weapons so he would need the others' help to get out. Ah, the joys of being average.

And three, he knew that if he played along for long enough he might be able to think at Logan loud enough to be heard. They had been working on boosting his range lately and it had been going well. Hopefully, Logan wasn't too far away.

Currently, Remy was handcuffed to a chair in your average interrogation room with Wright sitting across from him.

"Alright, final question for now, " She said, "You were considered to be the control group for this particular study were you not? Being the only normal person out of the group?"

Remy gritted his teeth, he needed a coffee if he was gonna be dealing with this bitch for much longer. No sunglasses, no coffee, this was hell. And the lights were so bright in here.

He tried for a pleasant tone as he said, "No, that's incorrect." She looked surprised.

"I was the control subject because I am the only one who took part who wasn't superhuman. None of us is anything close to 'normal'... Hon, " He packed as much salt as he could into that last word.

She gave him a cold smile, "Quite. Well, I will return in a while with the blood work kit" And with that she stood and walked out, taking her clipboard with her.

And so Remy was left to his thoughts, and he supposed that was all he really needed at the moment.

***

Dee couldn’t breathe. He was in a room now. He had been straining to stay awake to keep his glamour up. How long had he been here?

He could still feel the hands closed over his face. Could feel the restraints on his wrist. They had taken Roman too. Roman was hurt, they injected him with something and he had gone slack. Was he dead?

Dee couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t _breathe_. Where was he?

He had used every trick he knew. They couldn’t take him. Not again, Not Again, _Not Again_. He would die this time. This would be the one that killed him. This couldn’t be it and they hurt Roman. Dee couldn’t break out and they had him.

He had screamed as loudly as he could, feeling as if his throat would tear from the strain. He screamed begging for his life. Begging for someone to hear him, for someone to help him, someone, anyone. _Please_.  
Anyone.

But as usual, no one came.

***

'Biiiiiiiitch! Science Boy! Where the fuck are you? Logan, Babe!' 

Logan woke up to those words. He sat bolt upright with a gasp.

"Remy?" He breathed. He looked around but didn't see Remy anywhere. Instead, he saw a room with white walls and one of them was glass. There was an empty chair sitting on the other side of the glass.

Then he heard Remy's voice again, 'Logan please, are you there? If you aren't I don't know what to do…'

Oh! It was Remy's thoughts! 

He focused his attention on the idea of Remy, his sunglasses, his constantly unimpressed attitude, 'Yes, Remy?' He thought quickly.

'Oh thank god, babe, what took you so long?!' Remy demanded.

'I was unconscious. It seems, from bandage placement they delivered a blunt force trauma to my head to knock me out,” He focused on outlining the details of what happened so he wouldn’t think back to the way the dark forms had crawled through their living room window, ‘Am I to assume that you were abducted too?'

'Yeah, It was Wright. She grabbed me in the bar. She just came in a little bit ago to ask me questions a few minutes ago. I know she has Patton and Virgil because I saw them get taken but…’

Logan searched mentally, ‘They’re all here except Remus, unsurprising as he was less involved.’

‘Can you contact any of them? We need to find a way out.’

Logan was grateful that Remy had his head about him, ‘I will try. Be careful Remy.’

***

Everything was coming in heavy unbearable tidal waves over Patton. Exhaustion, shame, determination, sadness, anger but more than all of these was the terror. 

It took everything Patton had left to keep himself from reflecting the terror back outward. He had to not do that for his friend’s sake. He could feel them all here. They were where all these feelings were coming from.

Logan was panicking but was trying to hide it. That was just compressing the fear inside him. Patton wanted to tell him it would be alright.

"Mr. Gaudy, hello."

A woman strolled into view and the first thing Patton noticed about her was the icy feeling that rolled off of her in waves.

"Who are you?" Patton demanded, looking her up and down. She was in a pantsuit and was holding a clipboard she sat on the other side of the glass in the chair that sat there.

"Robin Wright, I'm sure you kno-"

"Could you let me out?" He asked. 

"Of course not! You wil-"

"Why not?"

She wasn’t used to being interrupted, it seemed to throw her off her rhythm, "Be-because your full of vital information." 

Patton felt out to see if he’d be able to use his powers against her but the glass made it harder to reach her. He would need to touch her to get her to do what he needed. There was a slot that could slide open near the base of the door but it only opened from the outside. He would need her to open the door before he could get to her.

During his planning, he talked, "I'm really not, Logan didn't tell me anything about the experiments. I also get the feeling that you’re not going to risk doing actually physical exams. What’s your problem with superhumans anyway?"

"It's not like a personal thing, " She said shifting awkwardly.

"That was a lie so how about you tell me why you’re doing this." 

“Enough, you’re here, you’re _all_ here, to make Logan feel guilty enough to give us his research.”

“You won’t be able to, he’s too logical to blame himself for this,” Patton shrugged. 

‘This is true, I am,’ Logan’s voice said in his head. Patton must be in a really bad place if he was imagining voices.

‘Not imagining, I’ve been developing my telepathic powers remember?’

Patton blinked staring at the floor.

“That’s cute but everyone is susceptible to guilt,” She said flipping her hair over her shoulder. Well, that was an idea, wasn’t it? Patton started sending her just enough guilt to make her more sympathetic to them. It took a lot of effort through the glass.

Patton ignored her then and tried to decide if he was going crazy.

‘If this is the first sign of your descent into insanity then you should be grateful that you are at least cognizant of that descent. Many people are not so lucky,’ Logan said a joking tone to his voice.

Patton had no clue what the word cognizant meant, so it must have really been Logan somehow communicating with Patton’s brain.

‘Indeed.’

“Mr. Gaudy, are you listening to me?”

Patton jolted out of his thoughts and looked back up at Wright.

“Yes, sorry, I was a little distracted, I think I’m a little hungry.”

“Hmm I suppose we can feed you, you’re not a physical threat like the emo one,” She snapped her finger at the guard and muttered something to him when he approached. Patton realized that meant she wasn’t going to feed Virgil. He felt a little sick.

‘Why are you being so polite?’ Logan asked suspiciously. That was a fair question but Patton was hoping to get Wright to let her guard down by being pleasant.

‘Oh, you’re clever!’ Logan’s voice said.

Patton suppressed a grin.

‘My apologies didn’t mean to think that so loudly. It is merely… you already had a plan and a clever one at that. You are excellent Patton.’

Patton could feel the glow of Logan’s pride from here. He pushed his own affection in Logan’s direction.

‘Yes well… I care for you as well.’ Logan somehow mentally cleared his throat before continuing, “Ahem right I should uh contact Declan now.’

Patton hoped Logan was nice Declan seemed to be hanging by a thread right now.

‘I will attempt to be gentle.’

Wright spoke again, “There I ordered you some food. Now, are you willing to talk?”

“Sure,” Patton said with a friendly smile, “I think I was just about to ask why you care about Logan’s research so much.” 

Patton strained to push as much genuineness to her as he could, he wanted to seem like the most trustworthy guy in the whole wide world. He still kinda hated using his powers like this but… in the end, saving his friends was his first priority.

“Ah well…” She seemed surprised at the question but she quickly wrestled her surprise to a mask of anger, “someone has to control you all.” Just underneath the thin layer of anger was fear and a lot of it.

“Oh… you’re scared,” Patton forced himself to seem sympathetic, “That’s understandable, some superhumans are really scary, like Roman’s brother? He’s awful.” Patton winced internally at the blatant lie, but the needed to find something to connect with her over. Even if it wasn’t the truth. Maybe there were times that lying was… okay?

“Yes! He is! I’m glad you can see reason!” She exclaimed. She normally wouldn’t be so quick to trust Patton knew but his influence was doing its job.

He had to get out. As soon as possible. For Virgil and Declan and everyone else. So if this was how he had to do it then that’s just how it was.

***

"Great, not to worry, Mr. Regis, we will be able to release you soon, " She said again before continuing her questions.

Roman had lost count of how many times she has said that. It had to have been days now. They’d given him either six or eight meals. They’d come in a whole bunch of times to check his blood pressure and vital signs. He was currently curled up on the floor of his cell with the thin blanket wrapped around him as the only other place to sit was the toilet.

He just… he just wanted to sleep. He was so tired and his brain was being so slow. He had tried summoning something small and discrete but as soon as he did he lost consciousness.

He didn't know how to get out.

Maybe he was stuck here until he died, just listening to Wright murmur those words over and over, "Not to worry, Mr. Regis, we will be able to release you soon."

***

Virgil never realized how much faster his metabolism was now that he was _using_ his powers regularly. 

He should have noticed, that's the kind of thing you should pay attention to. He should have realized how he pretty much was constantly eating. Carrying snacks with him, eating spoonfuls of peanut butter as he walked out the door to work or to class. It made sense, you run fast, you burn calories fast.

And subsequently, you get hungry fast.

He pressed his arms to his stomach, begging it to stop gnawing at him.

It made a loud growling sound.

" _Shut up okay?_ I don't have anything for you."

"Talking to yourself is typically a sign of deteriorating mental health, isn't it?" The voice asked from the speaker.

He snapped, "No, in fact, it's a very common coping mechanism used frequently for problem-solving in completely mentally healthy individuals." He was directly quoting Picani. He was supposed to go back to class today. The semester was starting, that is assuming that it was still the day after he'd been taken.

It was almost definitely not the same day. He knew what it felt like to go days without eating. He hadn't been the healthiest teenager. And this was at least a day two sort of hunger.

"Hmm, subject becoming irritable."

Virgil growled, "Oh no, I'm a lot more than irritable. If you came in here I think you'd find I'm downright pissed off. Which by the way is a NORMAL REACTION TO BEING DENIED FOOD." Not to mention water, but he was so thirsty that he didn't even want to think about it.

"I've told you, Mr. Timor, all you have to do to get food is agree to come run on a treadmill for us so we can take readings."

"I can't run on no calories!" He snapped.

"You aren't on no calories yet Mr. Timor. You are, after all, running your mouth,” Her voice had a touch of cold laughter in it. “You don’t have to be so hungry, you can just agree to help and afterward, you’ll receive food.”

He felt his stomach clench on nothing again. He took a shuddering breath. 

His voice cracked as he spoke again, “Okay fine just, please… I need to eat, please.” 

“Excellent choice.” 

He may not be able to use his powers to get out of here, but the least he could do was cover the place in his fingerprints.That way there would be plenty of evidence if people ever found this room. And they would, he just needed to cooperate long enough to find a way out. He wasn’t helpless without his powers. He was still the only guy he knew who had managed to keep up with Logan’s learning pace so he was obviously smart. If he was smart, he’d find a way out eventually.

A low rumbling noise filled the room and one of the walls slid to the side revealing a tiled room and standing in the center of it was a treadmill. Shitty lights flickered on overhead.

There was also a door.

“Okay, Mr. Timor, why don’t you just start running at a comfortable speed.”

Virgil ground his teeth and climbed on the treadmill.

He was slower than normal, the lack of food wearing on him and multiple times he felt himself get light headed and almost fall off the damn thing.

“Excellent, Mr. Timor, now let’s discuss how you can get some water as well.”

***

Dee had taken a little while to get control of himself enough to process what had happened fully.

Now he was just trying to state the facts to himself. He was in a white room, there was one glass wall, a toilet, he wasn’t dead yet. Not yet. Just focus on the facts, don’t get carried away.

‘A valid strategy,’ A voice said.

Dee jumped out of his skin feeling his breathing speed up again, “Who’s there?!” He demanded to the empty room.

‘It’s Logan. I definitely should have mentioned to more of you that I could do this before we were kidnapped, but too late for that I suppose. I am communicating with you telepathically from another room in this building as I was kidnapped as well. I’ve been trying to communicate with you for some time but I couldn’t speak over your panic.’

‘How do I know it’s really you?’ Dee asked mentally. He figured if the voice was really Logan he wouldn’t have to speak out loud.

‘I suppose I will share something only I could possibly know. When we first met the very first thought you had about me was that you thought I was hiding a secret. You were entirely correct.’

That _had_ been Dee’s first thought about Logan.

‘Exactly so now you believe it’s me?’

Dee shrugged, what the fuck did he have to lose anyway? 

He looked around and noticed for the first time an empty chair sitting on the other side of the glass. A chair implied that someone would come to talk to him. When they did, Dee would turn invisible so they would open the door to look for him and he could slip out.

‘An excellent plan but would you be able to break everyone else out by yourself?’

Everyone else? Who else was here?

‘As far as I know, it’s you, me, Patton, Roman, Remy, and Virgil.’

Fuck, that was a lot of people to break out.

‘Indeed, Patton expects he will be out within the next day or so, can you wait until then so you can both break out at once and we can all get out?’

A day “or so,” so much for Logan accuracy. Declan took a shuddering breath crossing his arms in front of his chest. He, of course, would wait but he was having trouble staying calm he just needed a chance to _breath_. This was all too much like the last time. And the white walls reminded him of the hospital incident and-

God, he should not have multiple experiences that this reminded him of.

‘Declan I am truly sorry.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Declan shifted uncomfortably, ‘I’m fine.’ 

If Logan noticed he was kind enough to not mention the lie.

***

The worst part of all this was the waiting. Remy had never been a patient man and all this waiting was driving him nuts.

It didn’t help that he was stuck in this chair in the exact same position for hours and hours and hours and houuuuuuuuuuuuurs!

Like they had let him out to go sit in a cell for a while a few times but all of the time he was awake was basically in this chair.

His ass was falling asleep.

Logan's voice sounded ‘I was updating Patton on your mental condition and he has asked me to say that it has fallen “Ass-leep”’

Asdfghjkl

‘........... did you just _think_ a keyboard smash? Oh, wait, Wright is coming in, I have to go.’

And with that, he left Remy alone again. 

Well looks like the perfect time to start singing Mr. Blue Sky to piss off whoever is watching the security cameras.

“Sun is shining in the sky, there ain’t a cloud in sight, it’s stopped rainin’ everybody’s in the play…”

***

“Just tell us what you found, " Wright said seriously.

Logan feigned thinking, “Ah, let me consider that for a moment, hmm how about you find a window and defenestrate yourself?”

Wright ground her teeth thinking, ‘That’s probably not a real word. This little prick.’

“It is a real word it means to throw an object out a window.”

“Stay out of my head.”

“Easier said than done.”

“You do know they’re all suffering because of you, don’t you?” Wright snapped.

Lohan raised an eyebrow, “How did you come to that conclusion?”

“The flamboyant one has been crying frequently, I guess he isn’t taking to the drugs too well. Then the angry one is well... angry, but also hungry because we're keeping him strictly on only as much food and water as he is willing to earn. That crazy girl you keep with you-”

“I’m sorry, who?” Logan said feeling confused.

“Ms. Acacia, she hasn’t stopped-”

Logan felt a flare of rage and interrupted her, “No, that is incorrect, Declan is a man.”

She continued, ignoring him, “Hasn’t stopped panicking long enough for me to talk to her and starts screaming at me anytime...” She continued speaking.

It took every ounce of self-control Logan had to not use his power to just scream inside her head. It was sure to be painful for her but he couldn’t reveal that yet. She might not know that he has the ability to broadcast thoughts yet so he had to keep it secret.

Logan interrupted her suddenly, he had had enough, “I’m sorry, but are you aware of how incredibly unintelligent you are? Truly it’s just… _baffling_ , border lining on impressive, how _inane_ every word that leaves your mouth has been. I’ve been counting how many syllables you say per word on average and you _scarcely achieve two_. I had no idea that trisyllabic phrases were so laborious for some people.’

This was untrue, Logan hadn’t counted her syllables. He didn’t care enough about what she was saying to do so but the insult had the intended effect.

She stood suddenly and left. Her thoughts were a flurry of overly emotional concepts. Perfectly set up for Patton to make his move.

***

Patton had spent the last… few hours? ... day? ...days? He had spent the last however long trying to send some peace to Dee and Roman. The two of them seemed worse off than the rest of them. He hoped it was working but he wasn’t sure.

'She is ready and heading your way, ' Logan said.

And then as if on cue she burst through the door and sat in the chair on the other side of the glass.

Patton sat up putting on his best “concerned friend” act, complete with facial expressions and super-powered emotional vibes.

"Are you alright? You seem upset!" 

"It's fine I just…" She hesitated before confiding in him, "Mr. Cuinn can be rather cruel."

Patton gasped dramatically, "Oh no! Did he say something mean to you? I just... Ugh, he’s such a … _jerkface_ sometimes!”

She looked surprised, “I thought he was one of your bestest friends?” she was clearly trying for a mocking tone but fell short by a wide margin.

“He was for a while, I guess, back when he was first helping me figure out my powers, but since then he just acts super jealous and rude… I wish he hadn’t gotten us all into this mess. I told him that he should tell you we could all split the money and now we’re stuck here.” Another lie, a big one this time. He bit the inside of his cheek lightly.

“Wait, so you really don’t have _any_ information?” She asked.

“Why would I still be here if I did?” Patton asked.

‘Declan has been a bad influence on you,’ Logan joked. ‘You shouldn’t be so good at this.’

Patton felt the guilt weigh heavier on him with the knowledge that Logan was listening in.

Wright sighed, “God, you’re really just a kid, aren’t you?”

Okay, apparently he seemed like a kid. 

Well in that case, now would be a good time to let out the tears he had been fighting because dear lord Roman has so many feelings. What was going on with him??

The feelings coming off of him were just _emptiness_. Patton had never been so lonely even when he was alone in the city after moving here. It was like Roman genuinely didn't believe he would ever make it out. But he had to know that they were coming for him, didn't he? They were friends!

Wright gasped at the tears streaming down his face, "Oh, oh hun don't- don't cry it's not- it isn't personal." She kept saying that as if there was a non-personal way to kidnap, trap, and starve people.

Patton sniffled, "I'm sorr- sorry ma'am. I'm just. I'm scared."

"Oh… honey I…" she looked from side to side as if looking for a way to fix this. Patton knew she wouldn't have this sympathy if he hadn't been doing his best to make her feel this way.

Patton drew his knees up to his chest and scrubbed at the tears on his face.

"I- hold on, " She stood and walked out of view for a moment. And then came a click sound and the door popped open with a hiss.

Patton's heart lept. Wright hurried over to the door opening it the rest of the way. She held out her arms to Patton, clearly expecting a hug. Patton stood and accepted, letting her fold him into her arms. 

As soon as they touched Patton flooded the connecting between them with every emotion that had been bombarding him while he was locked in here. He channeled Dee's terror, Roman's loneliness, Virgil's anger, Remy's distress, Logan's mixture of all of these (that he tried very hard not to feel), all of it was directed straight onto Wright. She jerked away with a noise of surprise but Patton kept his hand firmly on her shoulder.

"What is this?!" She had tears building in her eyes and she backed up trembling into the chair behind her.

"This is what you caused, " Patton said calmly, "I wanted you to feel it that way you know what you have made us feel." Patton abruptly switched to a rush of every bit of guilt this woman should feel.

'She intentionally misgendered Declan, ' Logan informed him softly. 

Logan was shocked by Patton but not scared.

Patton added a little more guilt to the connection. Wright was shuddering and sobbing and tugging at her own hair. Patton didn't know how much guilt was too much to give a person at one time. He resisted the urge to let up. He wasn't used to doing… _this_ to people it… it didn't feel good.

"I was nice to you!" She sobbed.

Patton shook his head, baffled and said, "It's not nice to kidnap people! Obviously!"

She slid off the chair and curled up into a ball on the floor.

Patton then put her to sleep and took the key card that was clipped to her dress. He left her there, laying on the floor.

***

Virgil was running on the treadmill again. Wright said she would be back to tell him when to stop. But she didn’t come, pretty soon he keeled over and lost consciousness. 

Apparently the two pieces of bread they had given him after the last jog hadn't been quite enough to support physical activity.

Whoops.

***

Declan woke with a start and heard Logan talking to him.

'Patton has managed to get me out. The guards are going around checking all of our cells to see who has escaped. Now is a good time to enact your plan.'

Dee pushed himself to a sitting position, and asserted, with some difficulty, a full-body invisibility glamour. He felt a sharp tug at his stomach as the glamour washed over him.

The guards ran into the room beyond the glass and looked around frantically. Then seeing no one they ran to the cell that contained Dee and opened it as if hoping that he had hidden under the thin cotton blanket they had provided. 

As soon as the door opened Dee swept a leg under the lead guard causing him to fall into the other. Dee realized for the first time that he wasn't wearing shoes as the two of them toppled to the ground.

He jumped over their forms as they looked around frantically for their attacker. Running out into the hall he glanced from side to side and saw only one other door, an elevator. It required a key card. He ran silently back into the room and grabbed the key card one of them had dropped and made a break for the elevator. 

He scanned the card and skittered to a stop as the elevator doors opened revealing Patton and Logan and Remy all of whom were also barefoot. 

Dee slammed the close door button repeatedly as he heard the guards fumbling to get up. Once the doors closed he sighed softly and dropped the glamour. Then he turned around and pulled the other three into a hug. He breathed out trying to contain a sob that wanted to escape his throat.

“Dee-” Patton began.

“I’m fine,” He said, pulling away.

They weren’t done yet, it wasn’t time to break down.

***

Roman was starting to wake up from his most recent bout of sedative. He had started composing a song in the meantime and it was the only worthwhile thing he had ever done. But no one would ever hear it. Except for the guards. He belted out the lyrics so they were sure to hear it. 

“You can have the toaster and the PC or even my timothy green DVD, I’ll let ya have the couch and the tv. Hang on to the jacket that you bought for-” 

The door to the room with the chair opened. Looks like Wright was back for another blood sample. He started rolling up his sleeve so she could get it over with faster. 

But the face that appeared wasn’t Wright.

“Dee?” Roman breathed. The other man didn’t move, he just stood there, staring at Roman. Maybe he wasn’t even there maybe Roman was just imagining him. Who knows what was in that stuff that they kept injecting him with. 

He shut his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see that face. Dee had left him, he hadn’t bothered to come to save him. A sob escaped Roman’s throat.

“Roman, baby, what did they _do_ to you?” 

Roman’s eyes snapped open. Declan was standing by the glass door now. He pushed the door release button and shoved the door out of the way. 

“You’re real..!” Roman breathed. 

Dee knelt down and slid his arms under Roman picking him up.

“You came to get me?” Roman murmured overwhelm by the feel and smell of Dee being right there.

Dee looked at him as he carried him out, “Why the fuck wouldn’t I?”

“Because… she said you wouldn’t?”

Dee shook his head in exasperation, “Roman we were all in the same building beyond it being incredibly fucking stupid to not just break everyone out, why would you think that we wouldn’t come to get you specifically?”

“YOU WERE IN THE SAME BUILDING????” Roman shrieked. He collapsed against Dee’s chest.

“Okay look we don’t have time for this we gotta get out of here but we’re talking about all this later."

Dee made for a set of elevator doors and scanned a card. After a moment the elevator appeared. As the door slid open a voice screamed and some charged out of the elevator fast. Then they stopped.

"Oh, it's you!" Remus said happily.

"What are you doing here?" Dee demanded. 

"Saving you guys!" Remus said slinging the baseball bat he was holding over his shoulder. He stopped and looked Roman up and down, "What's wrong with you?"

"Sleepy drugs, " Roman murmured feeling himself slip back into sleep in the comfort of Dee's arms. He really did smell nice. Like home. 

"I'll kill her, " Remus growled. Roman wasn’t really sure who they were talking about.

"Finally, we agree on something, " Dee responded clutching Roman closer to his chest.

And with that Roman dozed off.

***

"Oh God, Virgil! Are you okay?" Patton rushed into the room where he saw Virgil crumpled on the ground. He turned him onto his back and checked his pulse. He was fine. Well, as fine as he could be while passed out.

"We need to get him out of here, " Logan attempted to pick up the limp form of Virgil but fumbled with him.

Remy stepped in the middle of them and picked Virgil up easily and slung him over his shoulder. The two of them blinked at him for a moment, he laughed, "God babes, don't look so surprised, I'm a security guard, I have to stay fit."

They turned to head for the door and were greeted by a less-than-friendly face. Wright.

"Gosh I could _Wright_ a book about how much I hate her, " Patton muttered in frustration.

She had a slightly manic look on her face, "Thought you could just knock me out huh? Well, I have news for you. You can’t get out that easily. I am willing to whatever I have to to keep everyone safe from you _creatures_."

And that was it. Patton snapped. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

"You _fucking bitch_! You're just scared of anyone who's not like you! And you're taking that fear out on a group of _college students?_ Do you realize how fucking crazy that is? I'm sorry for cursing but just- _come on_!"

Everyone stood there silently for a second. They seemed surprised by Patton’s rant. Remy snapped out of it first he strode forward quickly, and taking advantage of the distraction, pulled back his arm and punched Wright in the face. 

She crumpled to the ground clutching her face, “Oh fuck, you little bastard!”

Remy shook out his hand and said, "That was fun. Let's roll babes."

They ran out the door and to the elevator before Wright could recover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: all the guys except Remus are taken and held in cells while being repeatedly questioned and/ or tested by Wright. Roman is told that he was the only one taken and that no one bothered to save him. So he is sad and insecure. Dee and Patton break out first and start breaking out the others. Everyone is in rough physical and emotional shape. They run into Remus on the way out.
> 
> I hope everyone is okay and heeded the content warnings   
> If I should add anything tell me
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Heart and Heroics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay yea it's been almost a month I know I know but hey quarantine gave me a bit of time to wrote so that's good!
> 
> Warnings: sorta graphic depictions of violence, implied ptsd, references to last chapter
> 
> This is mostly indulgent fluff though so I hope y'all enjoy!

The elevator ride up to the ground floor felt like it went on forever. After how tense every second of the past twenty minutes had been it felt a little silly for all of them to just be hearing the pleasant dings of the elevator as it traveled up floor by floor.

Patton shakily smiled as he said, “You know for someone who hates super humans she’s pretty _power_ hungry.”

Logan and Remy groaned in exasperation.

“Damn Pat that was pretty awful,” A voice said. Virgil pushed himself up off of Remy's shoulder and Remy set him down on his feet.

“Oh, you’re okay!”

“That is subjective,” Virgil said bracing himself against the wall, “Did you just say bitch?” 

Patton smiled sheepishly.

Once they made it to the ground floor they ran into Declan, Roman and… Remus. And the majority of the crime syndicate.

Okay well not the majority but a whole bunch of them. They had Wright's guards tied up!

They even brought up those who had been downstairs.

“Ree what are you doing here?” Patton asked, running up to his second in command.

“Thought I would try being a good guy for once,” Remus grinned. “Let’s get out of here.” He gestured with his hand but Patton caught his hand gently and looked at his arm. 

He was bleeding but Patton couldn’t tell how bad the wound was.

“What happened?” Patton asked seriously.

“It's nothing, just hurt myself on one of my knives, nothing to worry about Pattycake.”

Patton pulled back. Remus was definitely lying. 

***

Remus was _definitely_ lying.

The thing was... the whole saving them thing was much harder than he was willing to let on.

Wright burst out of the elevator.

Patton gasped, “We gotta run!”

Patton turned and grabbed Remus's arm pulling him. Remus felt the pain of the stab wound scream through him as he stumbled unexpectedly onto his bad leg. 

Oh yeah did he forget to mention he was stabbed?

Remus collapsed to the ground with a groan. Nate stepped forward and picked him up.

“Ya lucky that I’m such a nice guy if it were up to the others they’d leave your friends to pick ya up,” Nate said shaking his head with a good natured-smile.

"Pfft, my hero. Guys no need to run! Everyone is already tied up, we just have to pack them all into cars and take them to our holding cells, " Remus shouted, "Could someone grab the crazy lady too?" 

Brian grabbed her and started binding her up with duct tape.

"What's wrong with your leg?" Patton asked, looking Remus over.

"Nothing you need to worry about, " Remus brushed him off, "Now let's make like a racoon under a semi-truck and roll out!"

Everyone grimaced at his phrasing but followed his orders.

The syndicate guys grabbed up the guards. Nate carried him out of the building and the cool night time air hit Remus's skin. It stung like a bitch against his open wounds. He wished briefly that Nate would walk faster but they both knew there was no chance of that.

Nate was a big fan of dramatic exits and in his opinion, the best exit was done in slow motion. It took three minutes to make it to the car.

Patton and the others all piled into the limo while all the extra syndicate guys (and their new captives) piled into the other cars. Nate dropped him on the seat and strolled off to a different car.

They shut the door and pulled away. They all sat quietly for a few moments.

Logan broke the silence first, "Alright on a scale from one to ten how would each of you rate your physical pain and what is the cause?"

"Seven, " Virgil mumbled as he slumped onto Remus' shoulder, "empty stomach, headache, sore muscles."

"Zero, " Declan said.

"One or two, " Remy said, "Sore wrists from handcuffs and sore knuckles from punching."

"I'm at six, due to head trauma," Logan said in the calmest voice ever for someone who was at a six. He looked toward Patton.

"One, I think I stepped on something sharp in my bare feet " Patton shrugged. He lifted his foot and it was bleeding a bit, broken glass on the sidewalk most likely.

They looked to Remus.

"Five, " He answered easily. He had been through worse.

Logan glared, seeming to realize what Remus was thinking, "That’s not a five, tell them from what."

"Oh, headache from not sleeping, bit sore from hitting myself with this bat, the stab wound on my right thigh, grazed with a bullet on my left forearm, the paper cut on my thumb."

"Remus!" Patton gasped. 

Roman shot up with a start.

He squinted at Remus with sleepy eyes, "Ree, you okay?" He held up his hand in a little okay symbol.

Dee responded gently, "He's fine, Ro. Just relax, we'll be at the syndicate soon and the doctors will look at you."

Roman snuggled his head into Declan's shoulder, "Mmmkay, you're comfy, thanks for saving me." 

They all waited until a few moments until Roman dozed off again so they didn't distress him unnecessarily.

"Remus, how did you get a stab and gunshot wounds?" Dee asked softly so as to not disturb the now sleeping Roman.

"Ah, things happen when you’re a hero. And hey it didn't kill me. That must mean I wasn't meant to die from all this hero stuff! It's a good sign."

Logan pinched the bridge of his nose, "If I recall correctly, that's exactly what Roman said to me when he got shot. Is this some sort of Regis family motto? 'What doesn't kill you must be destiny'?"

Remus laughed at that, "Yeah basically."

Patton sigh and shook his head, "Just tell us what happened."

So Remus launched into his explanation.

"So, you see, I went to the syndicate first to get some help. We start torturing the guy who sold your data for information and he told us where he went to meet with Wright.”

Remus left out the part where he had first defended that he had to save them. He left out the strange feeling of protectiveness he had over them all, some of whom he had barely spoken to. Logan he had only met a few times in passing. Virgil had acted like a jerk while drunk but Remus felt like they might be able to become friends.

They were all his people. Remus wouldn’t go to this much trouble for his own parents. But recently because of these guys? The list of people he’d be stupid for was rapidly growing.

Julian, his kids, Roman, Dee, Patton, Remy, Logan, Virgil.

And of course Emmy. Remus didn’t deserve that man but was trying to be on his best behavior to change that. He just was hoping that Emile wouldn't notice before Remus had the chance. 

That was probably pretty selfish but Remus had never been one to deny himself simple pleasures.

He realized that Patton was making a face at the prospect of Remus having tortured the guy. He decided to move on quickly.

He cleared his throat and continued, "We went there and it turned out to be a trap. We were ambushed with guns and knives and one of the fuckers strapped me down and tried to saw off my leg!"

"They did not, " Logan rolled his eyes, "You were grabbed and stabbed once."

"Okay, fine, yeah. It was one stab but still, hurt like a bitch and that was about twelve hours ago. Nate slapped some bandages on my arm and leg. Then we killed that bastard for lying with us. We started doing some research and found out that she had conducted 'tests' on superhuman's a few years ago."

Logan went pale clearly understanding what Remus meant. 

"Yeah… she killed them, but the building she used is where she was holding you guys!" Remus grinned, feeling proud of himself.

"So you didn't get proper care for your leg?!" Patton demanded a little too loud, causing both Virgil and Roman to jolt awake.

"Who's hurt?" Virgil demanded, squinting around the limo.

"Me, " Remus answered.

Virgil frowned, "Don't do that, Dr. Picani would be sad."

Remus felt himself smile involuntarily, “He would, wouldn’t he?”

"Why does Emile care if you're hurt?" Roman asked blearily.

"He's my boyfriend, " Remus answered.

"Oh… he's _really_ cute. Good for you, " Roman said and slumped back down.

"I wonder if I should be jealous?" Dee said with a touch of amusement.

***

Hands closing over his face, needles, cold tile, cold feet, cold laughter. A faceless stranger pointing that gun at him, again and again. This time it doesn’t hit his side. Time slowed as the bullet spiraled toward his face.

Roman woke with a start. He flew forward, arms out, with a cry. Hands caught him before he could make a further move. He tried to wrench his arms away, clawing at the hands gripping him. 

“No! Get off!” 

“Roman, it’s me,” A familiar voice said, “It’s okay, my Knight. It’s only me.”

Roman focused on the face in front of him, Fae. No, _Dee_. He let out a sigh and immediately felt tears slipping down his face. Roman lunged forward, burying his face in Dee’s shoulder.

“Nightmare?” He asked gently. Roman nodded unable to stop the sobs that wracked through his body.

“It’s okay, you’re safe, I have you, you’re safe,” Dee clutched Roman to his chest seeming to be reassuring himself just as much as he was reassuring Roman.

“Where are we? Are we still in-”

“No, we’re back at the syndicate. This is your hospital room in the medical wing.”

“Why are you here?” Roman asked. 

Dee stiffened, he started pulling away, “Sorry I just, I couldn’t sleep. I kept dreaming of when they took you and I- I needed to see that you were here. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have just come in and-”

Roman clung to him, his voice filled with panic, “Don’t leave. I just meant- are you hurt?” 

Lord, neither of them was doing too hot, were they?

Dee stopped moving away and leaned back into Roman’s touch, “No dearest. Physically, I am alright.”

“What about the others?”

“Patton is fine as well, Remy’s injuries are already dealt with, your brother got a major leg injury and through some minor miracle didn’t bleed out but the doctors say he may require physical therapy before he can use it normally Virgil is severely dehydrated and is suffering from lack of food but will recover soon enough. He hit his head but the doctor thinks that it won’t be the biggest deal, just a minor concussion.”

“And Logan?”

Dee hesitated, “They aren’t sure yet. He was hit with something in the back of the head and it knocked him unconscious for a significant period of time. The fact that he woke up is a good sign and he has been doing his best to take care of himself while we were in there. Overall the outlook is fine, but there is a chance that this will affect his memory going forward. We’re just going to have to see.”

“Shit,” Roman breathed.

“Yeah,” Dee agreed.

“How many days were we there?”

“Five days. Most of our parents didn't have time to notice us gone since we haven't exactly been calling them often anyway. Remus had Nate call us all in sick to both school and work. As long as we bring in the notes that the doctor is going to give us to the teachers and our employers it should hopefully be fine.”

“Thanks, Dee,” Roman held onto him tighter.

"For what?"

"For saving me."

Dee pulled back and looked at him. Roman avoided his gaze.

"Roman, you look at me right now."

Roman looked up hesitantly.

"You don't need to thank me for not letting you die. Why would you believe we wouldn't come to save you anyway?"

"It was just the sedatives talking, " Roman said, pulling away.

Dee spoke quietly, "Of course. Which is why you're on the edge of tears. Please don't lie to me."

“I mean… I’m not Logan or Patton,” Roman mumbled.

“So?”

“So I’m… not the leader. Not the brain. Virgil is the muscle. You're the strategist. Remy is the voice of reason,” Roman knew the adventure genre and they had all the archetypes filled, Roman was an awkward sixth wheel in their dynamic, “The group works fine without me. Maybe it wouldn’t have been worth the trouble to save me if I hadn’t been in the same place as the rest of you.”

Dee’s gaze hardened, “Roman, I am going to overlook the fact that you seem to only be thinking of your worth in reference to character archetypes, in favor of scolding you as a fellow writer. You are missing a key component of a good group dynamic..”

“What?”

“You’re forgetting the element that brings the team together and keeps it that way. Every good group in fiction has _a heart_. The passion, the motivating force. That’s you, you fucking dumbass. You’re our heart. You’re why we’re all friends, and why I became Fae, and why Virgil and Patton got the chance to get together. But yeah, sure, you’re right you have _absolutely no purpose here_ ,” Dee rolled his eyes.

Then Roman was crying again.

***

“Well, we got her so who’s dealing with it?” Nathaniel asked Remus and Patton.

Patton shifted uncomfortably, “I shouldn’t, I’m too mad right now and it won’t help for me to be projecting feelings on her right now.”

“Oh don’t worry about it Pattycake I’ve got this handled,” Remus giggled, he was sitting in a wheelchair because the doctors couldn’t convince him to sit still, “Send in Remy, Virgil, Dee, and I? She’ll leave us alone.”

Nathaniel snorted, “So the tops of the group?”

Remus blinked at him, “Oh Nate, honey, you’re adorable. You think I’m a top. But no, we’re just the ones whose level of pissed off outweighs our level of moral opposition to hurting people.”

Patton grimaced, “Remus I don’t know if-”

“Awe c’mon none of us pride ourselves on being good people, let us just scare her a bit. We probably won’t hurt her a lot.”

Patton paused for a long time, “Okay, we’ll offer to everyone and you will be in charge of whatever happens down there. The one rule is don’t be cruel unnecessarily. Do only as much as you have to make sure she leaves us alone. She may be Wright but we gotta do what right.”

Remus grinned as an idea struck him, “You got it, sweetheart!”

***

In the end, Remus was exactly right about who was willing to go down there. Virgil, Remy, and Dee were immediately on board.

But Virgil insisted they not do it without him so they postponed until he was feeling better. Hopefully tomorrow.

Which meant Patton couldn’t avoid talking to him anymore. 

He knocked on the door to Virgil’s hospital room.

Virgil’s voice called through the door, “Hello?”

“Hey,” Patton entered and waved nervously.

Virgil’s face lost what little color it had, “Patton.” Waves of dread and guilt rolled off of him immediately.

“Well, that’s not the reaction you want from the guy you love the first time you see him after saying you love him and then both of you get kidnapped,” Patton rubbed the back of his neck.

“No! It’s not you!” Virgil said panicked, “And I- I don’t know when you said you loved me but I- I love you too! You’re just amazing and I’m sorry that I was so shitty!”

Patton opened his mouth to correct him.

Virgil cut him off before he could speak, “Don’t try to deny it cause I swear to god I am not being self-deprecating. I have not treated you anywhere near as well as you deserved and I was drunk off my goddamn ass and I did not know you said you loved me at least I assume that’s when you must’ve told me?. But that is amazing news dear fucking god. And I didn’t save you. I wanted too but I couldn't. And yeah you could do way, way, better than me but If I am at all what you want I won’t fucking argue. I love you Pat and I must have done something right to get your attention. So all I can ask is that you forgive me for being a goddamn idiot.”

Patton sighed and walked quickly over to the bed (physically restraining himself from hug-tackling the man) and wrapped his arms around Virgil.

Then Virgil hugged him back with the arm that wasn’t connected to the IV. Virgil was hugging Patton and he loved him too. And for a minute that was everything. It was like breathing a sigh of relief.

"Well, we really took the Dei- _most_ long-winded route to this didn't we?"

"Yeah we did,” Virgil chuckled softly, “Hey Pat?"

"What?"

"Could I kiss you?" 

Patton felt his face heat up, he pulled back from the hug and nodded shyly.

Virgil lifted his free hand to Patton's face cradling his cheek. He gently ran his thumb along Patton's cheekbone. Patton leaned into the touch.

Then Virgil leaned forward and pressed his lips gently against Patton's. He pulled back slightly and then kissed him again, slower. His fingers slid back to lace through Patton's hair. Patton sighed against his lips.

Virgil pulled back, and grinned, "I feel the distinct urge to say that I love you, but if I say it again so soon you might think I'm lame."

"I won't, " Patton promised softly.

"Then I love you."

"I love you too!" Patton said unable to keep the smile off his face.

The door opened with a soft click and Remy stood in the doorway, "Hey, I know you just got together and everything but could you tone it back? Patton's filling the whole hospital wing with romantic love and Logan and I aren't built for this shit."

"Oh, whoops!" Patton shut-off his power, "Better?"

"Much better, thank you. Congrats on the relationship tho."

"Thanks, " Virgil said weakly.

Patton felt some nervousness coming off of Remy, "Hey is something wrong?"

"Oh no I just need to go back to Logan’s room and ask him something. See ya later babes!" And with that Remy shut the door, and rushed away.

***

As Patton’s power tapered off Logan was thrilled. No no, he was beyond thrilled this was the happiest he had been in a long time and do you know why? Because the room was silent! He couldn't hear _anything_!

Remy came in and Logan had no clue what he was thinking!

Like sure he could tune in if he wanted to but!! He couldn’t hear anything!!!

"Remy, I don't know what you're thinking!"

Remy looked confused, but realized what Logan meant and broke out in a grin, "Babe, that's wonderful!"

"I just noticed after you got Patton to turn off the extra emotion!" He exclaimed. Which was rare for him Logan hardly ever exclaimed anything.

"That's so good, oh my god!" The excitement was there, but there was another emotion on Remy's face clouding the expression.

Logan realized with a twinge of discomfort that he had no idea what the other emotion was or what its cause was without using his power.

"Your face is doing a thing, " He said eloquently. He never was good at communicating about emotions.

Remy’s smile fell briefly but then was replaced with a smirk, "And you wanna know what the thing is without having to read my mind?"

"Yes."

"The thing is being nervous."

"Why?"

"Because I'm about to ask my best friend to be my queerplatonic partner."

"Oh, " Logan felt a surge of hurt, he, of course, knew Remy had other friends that he had known longer than Logan but Logan had been, perhaps foolishly hoping that Remy would be willing to become that with him, "Well best of luck to you and-"

"Babe I can _hear_ you thinking chill."

"Was I broadcasting my thoughts? My apologies," Logan said feeling panicked, "You have to excuse me for-"

"No no, not literally. Just- I can see you making your overthinking face. Logan, who do you think I'm going to ask?"

"Obviously one of your friends whom you have known for a long time that you are close to."

"I don’t really have many people I’m super close to. I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not the easiest person to get along with. I'm a bit too blunt bordering on bitchy sometimes with my lack of brain-to-mouth filter."

“That is what is good about you, you don’t have all these unspoken things I have to dance around,” Logan said, trying to reassure him.

Remy just shook his head and smiled, “Babe, I’m asking you. You’re my best friend. Are you up for it?”

Logan felt a small smile overtake his face and firmly forced himself to not leap headlong into this without discussion, “On two conditions.” He hoped Remy would still want to after he stated these things.

“Name them.”

“No kissing, not even cheeks unless we specifically talk about it first,” Logan refused to be caught by surprise with those sorts of things.

“You got it, babe,” Remy said with a grin, “Not really all that into kissing personally.”

Logan was relieved to hear it.

“And the other condition is that I ask that you at least consider occasionally sharing a bed because I despise sleeping alone,” He was not particularly into physical affection until he was tired, at which point he enjoyed a good cuddle.

Remy grinned, “You just made a terrible mistake because once the doctors let you out of here you’re never getting a bed to yourself again.”

Logan let himself feel giddy now, affection for Remy, “Excellent, then we should definitely be partners.”

“Hell Yeah! Now, babe, I need two things: one, fist bump.”

Logan knocked his fist against Remy’s with an indulgent smile.

“And the other thing I need is for you to rest. I’m gonna get out of your hair and probably go Rant to Remus about how excited I am but you should sleep."

“Very well,” Logan agreed, settling into his bed more. The doctors were keeping him under observation for twenty-four hours so he really should sleep.

Remy was halfway out the door when he stopped and said, “Hey Logan?”

“What?”

“I love you.”

Logan smiled, “I love you too.”

***

The next day the four of them stood outside the interrogation room wearing their scariest clothes. Remus was holding a crowbar and he and Roman had painted his wheelchair scary colors.

"Okay so just remember the plan, I made Patton a promise, " He said, swinging the crowbar over his shoulder with his better arm.

Dee was honestly impressed with Remus. He was genuinely trying to do good in his own way. 

"Yeah I'm only going with this cause I already got a punch in on the bitch," Remy laughed. They all envied him silently

And they went into the room where Wright was chained in place. Dee pushed Remus in since he should be using his bad arm anyway.

"Oh finally, come down here to deal with me yourselves? Hardly seems fair. Four men against one woman?"

Dee snarled, "Oh I see, I'm a man now that it’s convenient.” 

Virgil circled behind her, “It’s also interesting how what’s fair matters now.”

“After what you’ve done? Ha! Babe, you're lucky that Remus has got us on such a short leash,” Remy growled.

This was part of the act they agreed on. Remus was the one who was going to be “in control”.

“Remy,” Remus said, a warning in his tone.

“I didn’t touch her!” Remy snapped, taking a couple of steps away. He glared at her.

“So what are you gonna do with me?” She asked, trying to keep a brave face even though anyone could see that she was terrified.

“That depends on you,” Remus said twirling the crowbar in his hand.

“See we made a promise to Patton,” Virgil said, leveling her with his unnervingly focused gaze. 

Dee sneered as he said, “We promised not to hurt you more than we had to to make sure you leave us alone.”

Remus pointed one end of his crowbar toward her face, “But then we realized, we don’t have to do anything to make sure of that.”

“Yep, we could just leave you and your guards down here after all you only had about twelve of them,” Remy pointed out.

“People would be looking for me,” Wright said but even she sounded unsure.

Virgil scoffed, “Not here they wouldn’t. Why would they check here? No one even knows these rooms exist.”

“They’re a lot like the rooms you put us in that way,” Dee mused.

“But we don’t want to do that,” Remus told her reasonably, “We’d much rather you self-regulate.”

She looked at him suspiciously, “What do you mean?”

“We let you out and you leave town. If you ever return, we kill you, you ever out us, we kill you, you ever involve yourself with superhumans again, we kill you.”

“How are you gonna manage that?” She sneered.

“It’s easier than you think sweetheart. You underestimated us once, don’t make the same mistake again,” Virgil warned.

“It’s your choice, Miss Wright,” Remus said in the same condescending tone that she used, “Stay here and your life is guaranteed until you die of natural causes. Go out there? You and your guys would be responsible for your own behavior.”

There was a long silence.

“Let us out.”

Remus grinned, “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'm not certain yet but I am not expecting more than three more chapters left in this whole story  
> And honestly it's looking more like one or two chapters is more likely
> 
> We're getting to the end lads haha


	7. Touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay okay this is really soft and its basically just hurt/comfort  
> and we are down to only one warning! that is how soft we are today!
> 
> warning: PTSD implied

Wright was given one week to leave town and was warned that if she wasn’t out by then the “we kill you” policy would be enacted.

Patton wasn’t sure how he felt about this plan.

She was gone after five days. Patton was more than a little nervous about Remus’s method as much as he wanted to believe that someone could change… he had evidence otherwise. 

People change, sure.   
But not a complete turnaround.  
Not right away.

So he had Nate pick a few guys he trusted who didn’t have families in town to keep watch over her. Follow her around, live in the town she lived in. Patton doubled their pay for doing it.

He had the feeling she might not be gone for good but she was gone for now and that was good.

***

Dee smiled like an idiot at his phone, Roman was calling.

His _boyfriend_. 

Dee would never admit it but he had never well… dated before so this was new! 

Actually, he had no fucking idea how fast you were supposed to move while dating in college. 

He knew the order things were meant to happen, hold hands, little kiss, long kiss, cuddles, and eventually build up to _you know_.

But the problem is he couldn't do any of those things because of scales and… and gross. Roman wouldn’t want to do those things with him once he saw that Dee was all covered in scales. After all who would?

He answered the phone with a smile, "Hey there, Pretty Boy, what can I do for you?"

"Have you seen Logan? I miss him, " Roman said by way of greeting.

Dee's face fell into a dramatic sulking face. Patton giggled in the kitchen, he was doing dishes and Virgil was sitting on the counter next to him drying them.

"You know, sir Knight, a guy could get jealous dating you,” Dee complained. This was untrue as he and Roman had already had lunch together that day.

"Sorry, Darling, I also was going to ask if I could come over but just Logan isn't at the apartment and he hasn't been since he got out of the hospital and I miss him. It's like he's only got time for Remy these days."

"Hey, Logan's dealing with some shit right now, but I bet he misses you too! Come over and I'll invite him and we can all chill!" Virgil shouted from his seat on the counter.

"Was that Virgil?" Roman asked.

"No it was Patton, " Dee said with an eye roll.

The call cut off suddenly.

“Awfully sarcastic for someone in flirting distance,” A teasing voice behind him said. 

Dee whipped around and saw the window to the fire escape was open and a medieval knight was climbing through it.

“That was quick,” Dee commented.

“I was on patrols and got lonely without you or Virge,” Roman said with a shrug, taking off his helmet. His hair was a ruffled mess. Dee wanted to run his hands through it but that would be too close.

He had gotten away with a few kisses and hugs but that had been when Roman wasn’t focused on solely him, there had been distractions, other people, big emotions, the threat of death…

He wouldn’t get away with it again. His scales were smooth enough to not be _immediately_ obvious but soon enough Roman would notice.

He wondered silently if it was even worth it to start all this with Roman. If he couldn’t give him those things, wouldn’t even hold his hand, how would Roman react? The self-destructive part of his brain said, “Break up with him before he decides you aren’t worth the trouble!”

That part of him was louder than it usually was.

“Hi,” Roman said, stepping closer to Dee with a light flush to his cheeks.

“Hey,” Dee said in a friendly way, backing away in what he hoped looked like a casual manner. He turned and walked toward the kitchen.

Patton pulled a face, clearly feeling the emotions coming off of Dee. Roman walked further in.

“Hey man, wassup?” Virgil said lifting a hand in greeting. Roman reciprocated with a high five.

Roman grinned, “Not much just enjoying a night of heroics without any of your asses distracting me.”

“Roman we talked about this. I’m a taken man. You gotta stop talking about how distracting my ass is,” Virgil replied.

“Oh fuck off!” Roman laughed, exasperated, “Speaking of the unlucky man, how is he, Patton? Do you need me to kick his ass for you?”

Patton shook his head with a smile, his eyes not leaving his task of piping frosting onto the cookies he had made, “Roman, honey I appreciate the offer, but I think Logan would be more physically capable in a fight than you.”

Roman gasped, laying a hand across his chest, “I am offended! I held my own perfectly fine against these two!”

“You were covered in bruises for eleven months straight,” Dee chimed in with a smirk.

“So we’re both of you!” Roman said defensively, “And where is the nerd anyway? You said you knew why he hadn’t been home?” 

Virgil nodded, “Yeah, I do but you should really talk to him. I texted him and he and Rem will be here in a few minutes, maybe we can grab some food and you can talk to him.”

“Fine, fair enough,” Roman said, he turned to Dee.

He looked at him searchingly and frowned. 

“Are you okay?” He mouthed holding up a little okay sign.

Dee nodded and mouthed back, “Yeah why?”

Roman walked closer and whispered, “You keep looking at me like…”

“Like what?” Dee said trying to put on a flippant attitude and a smirk.

“Like you’re afraid of me,” Roman said softly, sounding a little hurt, “Did- did I do something?”

Dee’s smirk faltered slightly and he shook his head dumbly.

Roman looked at him doubtfully for a moment more then shook his head and turned back to Patton.

“So what kind of cookies did you make?” 

Patton’s response faded out of focus as Declan’s thoughts crashed inward. An implosion. Crushing him suddenly and all at once.

How long could he keep this up really? A day? A week? A month? How long would it be until Roman wanted more than words? How long till he looked at Dee with disgust? How long till he left?

Dee knew that it wasn’t really an if but more of a when. 

It was different when Patton saw him. Patton wasn’t obligated to touch him, being just friends gave one that wiggle room. But people expected to touch their partners.

And Dee wanted so badly to give into that. He wanted to believe that Roman could hold his hand and Dee could relax. He could imagine Roman’s fingertips touching his cheek gently as they kissed and Dee could lean into the contact and the heat of another person.

But that would never happen. It was a countdown clock until Roman left him and the only choice Dee got was whether it was over his frigid behavior or over his scales.

“Dee,” Patton said suddenly in front of him.

“I’m sorry,” Dee said, stiffening reflexively.

“What’s going on in your head? There was this wave of pain and loneliness,” Patton said softly to him.

Dee shook his head automatically, “Nothing, I-”

“You don’t have to tell me, but don’t you lie to me,” His voice was serious and firm.

“Dee?” Roman’s voice came from a few feet away, he was blocked from view by Patton.

“It’s…” He trailed off with a huff and mouthed the last word, “Roman.”

Patton’s face turned stony and serious, he raised his voice for Virgil and Roman to hear, “We will be in Declan’s room, you two stay here.”

There was no room for argument.

“Patton, no, I-” Dee tried to defend but Patton was tugging him along into his own bedroom.

Patton shut the door behind him and crossed his arms, “Did he try something? Did he pressure you into moving faster than you wanted? Because if he hurt you I will destroy him without a second thought.”

“You would??” Dee asked, baffled, letting his glamour fall.

Patton’s face softened, “Of course, Dee! You’re family. Roman is family too, but still, if he hurt you…” Patton held up his hands and balled his fists meaningfully. As if he would physically fight Roman.

Patton huffed and released his hands, “So… what did he do?”

“No, Pat, he didn’t do anything,” Dee said, trying so hard to choke back tears.

“Then…” Patton looked confused, the anger melted off his face, “Wait, I don’t get it, what’s happening?”

“I can’t be with him,” Dee said, wrapping his arms around himself.

“Why not? Oh no, are you in love with Remus?! I know you guys were working closely in getting Wright out of town.”

“Dear lord no. No I… I love Roman. This is scary as hell because I’ve only known him for a year and we just started dating two weeks ago but... I do. Like maybe I’m not picking out china patterns yet but… that’s only because this isn’t gonna last long.”

“Why not?”

“You know perfectly well why not. I’m not stupid Patton. You can’t act like you don’t see the scales. And he doesn’t even know they exist yet. What am I supposed to do, just never fall asleep? Never hold his hand, never hug him, kiss him…”

“Why don’t you just tell him?”

“Because I don’t want half of my face to be a flaw he has to look past!” Dee exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration, “I don’t want him to have to steel himself for the feeling of scales before he kisses me. If I was handsome he might have some reason to stick around but with this? The powers, the scales? And it’s not like I’m exactly a pleasure to have a conversation with.”

“Yeah, you are. And you’re handsome as heck. Believe me, if I didn’t already have a crush on Virgil when I saw you without your glamour, I probably would have been pretty smitten. Roman already likes you, just wait till he sees you without a glamour. He’ll like you all the more! Not in spite of the scales, but because you trust him.”

“You’re naive,” Dee said softly, hoping Patton was right.

“If you say so,” Patton said, not arguing with him, “Logan and Remy are coming up, you ready to head out?”

Dee nodded shakily, reasserting his glamour.

“Okay,” Patton nodded and opened the door to the bedroom.

***

“I’m going to have to tell them,” Logan said as they stood outside the door.

“Babe there’s no shame in it, they’ll understand just like Virgil did,” Remy said softly, no trace of the usual sass. He was correct. This was something they would understand.

“May I make a request of you?”

“Of course.”

“May I have some physical contact for anxiety reduction?” Logan asked.

“Hand?” Remy offered. 

Logan nodded stiffly.

Remy grabbed his hand and squeezed it gently, “Everyone in that room loves you, babe, you have nothing to be afraid of.”

“I feel foolish for letting my emotions rule me in this.”

“Breaking news you aren’t a robot, witnesses shocked,” Remy said sarcastically. Logan felt the corner of his mouth quirk upward.

“Alright I suppose we should enter now,” He said, exhaling shakily. He opened the door and went in.

“Lo!” Roman and Virgil said in unison with matching grins. They then scowled at each other.

“You two spend too much time together,” Logan said, unable to stop the slight smile on his face.

“Hey, kiddos!” Patton said strolling out of Dee’s room with Dee in tow.

“Salutations. We all know that I have been called here to explain so I would rather get that out of the way quickly,” Logan said stiffly.

“Yeah, you haven’t been home since you got out of the hospital,” Roman said with a slight pout.

“On the contrary, I returned once and was immediately overcome with panic. Luckily Remy was with me at the time so he- he got me out.”

Logan didn’t know what would have happened if he was alone. Theoretically, he could have overcome his anxiety eventually, but… his carpet was stained with blood. His blood. The latch on the window was broken. His laptop was broken on the floor. Roman hadn’t been back at that point so no one had cleaned up any of it.

“Panic? Why?” Roman asked.

“Roman where do you think I was when I was taken?” Logan said barely above a whisper. He clutched desperately at Remy’s hand.

A look of understanding dawned on his face, “I- Logan I’m sorry I didn’t even think. I knew that was where they… I didn’t even consider that you wouldn’t wanna go back there. I cleaned up the mess…”

“I don’t think that would help,” Logan said honestly.

“I’m sorry,” Roman repeated.

“Welp, then it's decided,” Patton said suddenly.

“What is?” Dee asked.

“The idea I had. I’m kinda suddenly rich. If you’re all up for it, I was thinking of… well paying off all our loans and buying a nice big house for us to share. Rumor has it there’s a mansion that just opened up because the owner sold it out of nowhere and left town.”

Virgil sat up with a grin and seemed to realize what Patton meant, “Wright’s old place?”

“Oh I’ve been there and it is lovely. There are a lot of rooms, too many really,” Dee said with a smirk.

“But Pat, you can’t just spend that kind of money,” Virgil protested.

“Hey, he can if he wants to,” Remy said under his breath.

“I’m serious guys,” Patton said softly, “You are… the closest thing I’ve ever had to a family. I want to take care of you. I want you to be comfortable. I have nothing else to do with this money, I’m already paying double the minimum wage to even my lowest rank guys. Why not let me buy us a mansion?”

“I’m in,” Dee said.

“I… thank you, Patton. That’s incredibly generous,” Roman said, shocked.

“If you’re sure then I’m down,” Remy said, peering over his sunglasses.

Patton looked to Virgil.

“What if…” Virgil started but trailed off.

“What if you grow tired of us?” Logan finished, knowing what Virgil was thinking without reading his mind.

“Hoo boy, tonight is just full of trust issues isn’t it?” Patton asked with a rueful chuckle.

He took a deep breath and his look turned stern, “I want you to hear me say this. Really hear me. I won’t grow tired of you because I love you. All of you. And you may think that I give that away easily, but I really don’t. There is only one person outside of this room who could claim that and it's Remus. And this was his idea. I don’t love easily and I don’t stop easily either. I want to live with you all and then Remus and Emile will live with us too. It’ll be good.”

Virgil nodded slowly, “Then… Yeah, I’m in.”

“I am as well,” Logan agreed nervously.

Patton’s face split into a smile, “Good because if you didn’t agree I would have had to give you a _pizza_ my mind. Speaking of which Dee Remy let's go grab some pizza and leave these three alone, they haven’t gotten to hang out for a bit.”

“You good if I leave?” Remy’s look seemed to say.

Logan nodded and released his hand. 

Virgil and Patton kissed goodbye. Dee and roman waved awkwardly.

And the other three left, leaving Logan with his two oldest friends.

“Welp, I think I fucked up already!” Roman said with a laugh.

“What’s up, Princey?” Virgil said hopping off the counter and making his way to the arm of the couch.

“I think Dee is mad at me but honestly I’m not super worried about it. Once I figure out what I did wrong I’ll apologize and he’ll forgive me and I won’t do it again.”

“That is a baffling amount of confidence,” Logan said with an eye roll, “though not unfounded I suppose.”

“Hey, what is he mad about? You should tell me!” Roman exclaimed.

Logan scoffed, “I already told you I have no intention of using my power without asking anymore.”

“Lame,” Virgil said, flopping back onto the couch. His legs draped over the arm of the couch.

Roman shook his head, “You know this is all crazy, like mind-reading, your boyfriend is a millionaire, both our boyfriend and my brother are in the mob. When did our lives get so weird?” 

“When Virgil started displaying abnormal strength? When you summoned a microphone? When Patton got drunk and he and Dee got mugged? Pick a moment,” Logan said collapsing on top of Virgil.

“Oof,” Virgil said at the collision, “What was that?”

“Require contact,” Logan said, laying his head on Virgil’s chest. He was tired today and the touch starvation kicked in more strongly when he was tired.

“Okay,” Virgil laughed and ruffled his hair slightly.

“Missed you,” Logan turned his head to look at Roman, “Missed you too.”

“I missed you too, teach, but hey we’re all gonna live together soon,” Roman pointed out with a chuckle.

“Yeah, in a mansion apparently,” Virgil laughed and the movement vibrated Logan.

“You fools, when we live together I will have many people to obtain contact from. You will all get sick of me.”

Virgil snorted, “Just say you’re a cuddly bastard and be done with it.”

“Hmm very well, I am, as you say, a cuddly bastard.”

“It does come with one downside for you, Ro,” Virgil said.

“What’s that?”

“You’re gonna have to pick a major.”

“Actually, I uh did,” Roman said with a nervous smile.

Logan said, “You found what you wish to do with your life?”

“I’m... gonna be a writer,” Roman said shyly.

“That’s pretty cool. Good thing Patton’s paying off your loans, it takes a little bit to get off the ground with that,” Virgil said, his gentle way of saying ‘Are you ready to be a starving artist?’.

“Well, I’m gonna start letting people request schedule appearances for the Knight, special occasions, photoshoots, interviews ya know? And they can pay me and that’s how I’ll make money to live on.”

“Oh like birthday parties and stuff?” Virgil asked.

Roman blushed scarlet, “Look I know it’s dumb but-”

“Not dumb, that’s great sir sing-a-long, glad you found something that suits you,” Virgil said gently.

Roman looked partially placated and looked to Logan.

“It’s a great idea, you have a way with words that most can only envy,” Logan agreed firmly.

“Thanks, guys,” Roman smiled softly.

“I myself have uh- decided to change majors as well,” Logan added quietly.

“What?!” They exclaimed at once.

“I… the information I found regard superhumans was barely a hint as to what could cause them and it... tore my life apart. I do not want to make that my life. I can shape the world to be more accepting in a different way. I’m going to become a teacher.”

The truth was, his discovery might have been nothing at all. All he had found was that all of them had one thing in common. Elevated levels of a chemical called deoxypolysciver. The trouble was everyone had some of it in their blood. 

If word of that had gotten out it would have been a figurative witch hunt for people with increased levels of that. Well, no actually, rather a _literal_ witch hunt.

Logan wasn’t letting that get out. It had been enough of a lead that it would have gotten him better funding for further research but… it had already caused enough trouble knowing there might be some way to root out supers _without_ knowledge as to what it actually was. 

Logan was done. He wasn’t going further with this.

“That’s great, dude!” Virgil said excitedly.

“A teacher is the perfect job for you!” Roman agreed.

“Thank you.”

Virgil shrugged his shoulders, “I’m still gonna get my doctorate. I wanna be a psychologist. I talked with Emile and he admitted that he’s known about our secret identities for months since he and Remus started dating in February. Then he told me that there isn’t a lot of available mental health care for superhumans where they can be open about their powers. I wanna be that.”

“I should’ve known that he figured us out,” Roman muttered petulantly, “But good for you, I think the six of us could probably use more people like you.”

“True,” Logan agreed with a yawn.

“Ah c’mon man, don’t fall asleep on me,” Virgil complained half-heartedly, even as he wrapped an arm around Logan.

“Unavoidable, hoodie soft,” Logan lifted his head to glare at Virgil, sleepily, “You’re not soft, but I will forgive you.”

“Hey! I’m not as boney as I used to be!”

Logan frowned, unimpressed, “Eat more food, you are an inconvenient bed.”

“Terribly sorry. Roman, are you just gonna keep standing there awkwardly?”

“What do you mean?”

Logan held out a grabby hand to him, “Join us. Crush me.”

“Seriously?” Roman asked, hesitating.

“Smush us, Princey, we have anxiety and you’re our weighted blanket,” Virgil demanded.

And so he did. 

Roman was softer but not too heavy. Logan dozed off quickly, comfortable in the knowledge that despite having formed a precarious human tower, Virgil would make sure they didn’t fall.

***

“We leave for twenty minutes and they form a cuddle pile without us,” Remy complained, setting down the pizzas.

Dee peered at the stack of sleeping men. They all seemed so peaceful.

“Oh well, more pizza for us,” Patton commented quietly.

Virgil’s eyes flew open, “Pizza?”

Roman and Logan began waking up too.

Nothing like pizza to wake up a group of hungry college students.

The three of them carefully unstacked themselves. They passed around plates of pizza and Patton’s cookies. They turned on Frozen and relaxed. 

Roman had made a throne of pillows on the floor. Virgil sat on the back of the couch, perched like a gargoyle, Patton sat in from of him, laying back against Virgil’s legs. Remy laid stretch out on the couch and Logan laid on top of him. 

After a while Dee laid his head carefully in Roman’s lap, making sure the left side of his face was facing downward. Roman had stiffened at first, but quickly relaxed and started running his fingers through Dee’s hair. Dee sighed at the touch.

He wished he could have this forever. It was quiet and comfortable. For once it was comfortable.

…Until the movie ended.

Because then it was all, “Oh gosh we’re so tired.”

And Patton was all, “Well you guys can stay here for the night.”

And then Virgil moved into Patton’s room. And Logan and Remy went to Virgil’s room. 

And Dee was just standing by his doorway, watching as Patton helped Roman set up a bed on the couch. Patton was occasionally casting Dee glares as if to say, ‘well, what are you doing just standing there?’

“Wait,” Dee finally broke in, his voice rough, “Uhm, would you like to share my bed? It’s more comfortable than the couch.”

Patton gave him a proud smile and laid out the last blanket.

“Well this is all set up so I’ll just get outta your hair and you can do whatever,” Patton said running off to his room and shutting the door behind him.

Roman tilted his head and looked at him, “Dee, you don’t have to just because the others are.”

“No I- I want to,” Dee stammered, he never stammered.

He just hoped that Patton was right about Roman.

“Hey, we don’t have to even touch if we do share,” Roman said, misreading the reason for his anxiety. 

“Roman, I- just get in here please,” Dee pleaded, he wanted to get this over with.

Roman did as he was asked and Dee closed the door behind them.

“Okay look you should know something before we, um, go any further,” Dee said. Not meeting Roman’s eyes.

“Okay?”

“You should be aware that I am currently using a glamour. This is more or less what I look like but there are a few major things that I’m… hiding.”

Roman frowned, a little confused, “Uh, Dee you already mentioned that you’re trans so if this is about that.”

“No, it’s… something else, it’s bad. Look just if you want to reconsider sleeping arrangements or our relationship, I wouldn’t be upset,” Dee lied, “No hard feelings, we can just be friends.”

Roman looked worried now, which was probably good, at least he was prepared.

Dee dropped his glamour.

Roman drew in a breath.

“I’m sorry,” Dee said flinching, he still didn’t look up.

Roman padded toward him, keeping his strides slow. Dee wanted to scramble backward, wanted to run, wanted to go back to twenty minutes ago. Roman raised a hand up and Dee did step back, irrationally expecting a blow.

Roman wouldn’t do that, even if he rejected Dee he wouldn’t hurt him.

“You’re _dazzling_ ,” Roman said softly, his fingertips reaching out and ghosting over Dee’s cheek.

“I- Wait- what?”

“Stunning,” Roman said, splaying his fingers across the left side of Dee’s neck. His thumb ran gently across Dee’s cheek.

“No, I-”

“Breathtaking,” Roman insisted, “How long have you had them?”

“Started developing them soon after I was born,” Dee answered feeling dazed, “We don’t know why.”

“They’re wonderful, _you’re_ wonderful,” Roman whispered. He met Dee’s eyes and seemed to search for something, “Why did you think this would change anything?”

Then Dee understood all at once.   
Of course, why else would he say these things or do any of this? 

The question was how far it had gone. Did Patton know? Did Logan?

“Because my powers of pattern recognition are truly quite excellent,” Dee sneered jerking away from the touch. 

“Dee?”

“Don’t do that,” Dee said, feeling sick, “I think your joke has gone on long enough okay? So get your laugh in and leave.”

“My… joke?” 

“Yes haha very funny you tricked the stupid snake boy into thinking for a second that someone liked him. Now let it go,” Dee felt his voice break at the last sentence.

“Dee, how could you think that’s what I’m doing?” Roman whispered, doing a very good job of pretending to be horrified.

“Because I’m not stupid,” Dee said, tears spilling down his face, “Nobody would really look at this and think…”

“That you’re beautiful?” Roman finished.

Dee gritted his teeth.

“Dee please, I’m not lying to you, I love you,” Roman pleaded.

“You- what?” 

“I… love you. You’re wonderful. I don’t know who did what to make you so sure that someone saying that would be a trick, but it’s true. And if you’re okay with it I would very much like to kiss you like we’re at the end of a rom-com.”

“You… mean it?”

Roman nodded.

He wasn’t lying. Dee didn’t know how he knew but he knew.

He took a deep breath, terrified to say what he was gonna say next, “I love you too.”

“Oh, that’s good because that could’ve made things awkward,” Roman said with a grin, “Now about that kiss…?”

“You don’t have to… the scales can be off-putting...”

“You’re just assuming all sorts of wrong things tonight, aren’t you?” Roman said shaking his head and pulling Dee into a kiss. 

His hand stroked gently across Dee’s scales. His touch was so soft like he was afraid to hurt Dee. Like Dee was breakable. Like Dee was precious.

He pulled back and said, “Now, why don’t we go to sleep, my love?”

“Okay,” Dee nodded, allowing himself to be pulled toward the bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (hey guys anybody else a little touch starved)
> 
> only one more chapter guys! we've almost made it   
> thanks so much for reading this far, it means the world to me <3


	8. More Than One Way to Save Someone.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thrilling conclusion.  
> (Janus reveal his name just before I was done so I didn't fix it)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it guys  
> The culmination of fifteen months of writing, editing (big thanks to both people who have beta read for me @joceyfrost and @sky-army-rules on Tumblr) and reading (thank you!!)
> 
> Warnings: Child abandonment, references to offscreen past child abuse, and PTSD 
> 
> Hope this is a happy ending for you guys

While the others were at work, Roman, Patton, and Emile started unpacking the boxes in their new home.

It was strange to call a place so big and empty home but... It was theirs. 

There were lots of empty rooms and they had all chosen rooms in the same hallway so that they weren’t all scattered around the too-large house. Patton didn’t know what they were going to do with all this extra space and even Roman seemed to be realizing that he had bitten off a bit more than any of them had been ready for.

Emile was a big help, they had all taken a class or two with him and Remy had even been his roommate before Emile graduated and took the teaching job. He just sort of clicked in with the rest of them. He was also a calming presence for Remus so Patton thought he seemed nice.

“You know, guys, It’s pretty nice to have real furniture,” Roman commented. 

“I can’t believe what you and Logan have been using for the past year. This bean bag looks like it’s been through hell. Seriously, is this a bullet hole?” Emile asked as he poked at it.

“Yeah, that’s from Ree,” Patton commented brightly, “It fell out of the moving truck and startled him. It was a _holy_ mess.”

Roman laughed, cutting open another box, it was full of knit blankets. “Patton, buddy, I appreciate your zeal, but this is the third box that I have found filled blankets you’ve made! How many are there?”

“At least three more!” Patton said with a mischievous grin. He pulled out another stack of DVD’s, setting them on the shelf.

The front door opened and a voice from down the hall called out, “Marco!”

“Polo!” Emile replied loudly.

Remus ran into the room panting, “Okay, so, uh, something happened and don’t freak out.”

“Come on, small fry,” Dee’s voice floated in from down the hall, “I swear they’re nice guys.”

Dee appeared in the doorway trailed by a small boy. Maybe around seven years old?

“Oh! ...Hello there,” Patton said gently, “Dee, who’s this?”

“This is our new friend Thomas. Remus and I were um- well we were robbing a Costco for supplies to give out and as we were leaving he kinda just ran up to us?” 

“Hi,” Thomas said softly. He was absolutely radiating nervous energy. He was looking around the room, seeming to be analyzing everything for danger.

"Hi Thomas, my name is Patton. These are my friends Roman and Emile. Were you lost kiddo?" 

Why had a child so young been out alone at night?

Thomas's gaze snapped back to Patton at his words, "Oh I already knew you from the news! And um no I was wondering if I could crash with you guys for the night." 

Patton's smiled faltered slightly before he pasted it back on. The words sounded stolen in Thomas’s mouth as if he was trying to repeat something he had heard elsewhere, using phrases that were uncomfortable and clunky. 'Crash with them'? What did that mean? 

Patton spoke carefully with his next words, "Well, um… well, where are your parents?"

"I don't live with them anymore," Thomas said his voice wobbling. His tiny body was full of emotions that he was trying very hard to hold back.

"Why is that?" Roman asked stepping forward gently.

Thomas looked up at the sound of his voice and his face lit up.

"Mr. Knight?!" He gasped with a smile. All of Thomas’s anxiety disappeared as if he was sure that nothing bad could happen if The Knight was here. It was really cute.

Roman blinked a few times and his voice came out a little strangled as he said, "How did you know?"

"I'm good at voices, " Thomas said puffing out his chest, "Mr. Knight, I didn't know you and Mr. Patton were friends with Mr. Fae and Remus."

"Oh well, Remus isn’t my friend, he’s my brother. And yeah, us supers have to look out for each other, " Roman said as he regained his bearings.

"Good because my mom and dad are being mean because I'm a superhero, " He said, his tone full of righteous fury.

Roman put the pieces together faster than Patton had, "You have powers?"

"Yes and my mom and dad, uh they- they- um-,” Thomas was clearly trying to hold back tears, “I used my powers when they told me not to, and they got mad, and they sent me outside, and they wouldn't let me go inside, and they kept telling me to go away. So I left, and I was looking for you or Mr. Fae because I didn't know what else to do."

Roman shifted from concern to anger and Patton couldn’t agree more. Parents throwing out a kid Thomas's age for having powers. It was unthinkable!

“Patton,” Dee’s voice cut through his thoughts, “Lock it down.”

“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry!” Patton whisper exclaimed. He turned off his powers which had been accidentally leaking into the room around him.

“So you’re saying that you mom and dad… kicked you out for having powers?” Patton asked as gently as one could ask that question.

Thomas nodded, looking at the floor.

“Well, you came to the right place. May I ask your last name kiddo?”

“Sanders.”

“Okay, thank you. Ree, Dee, would you mind taking Thomas to the kitchen to see if we can find him something to eat?”

“Sure thing,” Remus said, “C’mon, I got a whole secret jar of cookies that you can have.”

“Thank you,” Thomas said softly.

The three of them left the room. Patton shifted into leader mode.

“Roman, you get a hold the police please, let them know what’s going on. Emile, I would really appreciate it if you would set up somewhere for him to lie down on one of the couches he looks like he hasn’t slept in days. I’ll talk to Logan and Virgil and get them over here, they should know what’s going on.”

***

The police arrived a short time later but Thomas had already crashed on the couch. He had basically fallen asleep right after meeting Logan and Virgil.

“Alright,” The police chief, Melanie Torres, said walking into the room, having been let in by Virgil and Logan.

“Let’s make one thing clear, due to the fact that I had officers follow each of you home at some point or another to find out where you lived, I already know all your secret identities and the fact that your housing a criminal and the fact that for some reason Mr. Gaudy just took over an insurance agency which is how you bought this house. So don’t dance around things just explain why this little boy is asleep on your couch.”

They all stood there blinking at her. Many things could be said about Chief Torres, but she was not known for beating around the bush.

Roman recovered first and answered her, “He says his parents kicked him out for having superpowers.”

She looked at him blandly, "Have you seen him display these powers?"

"Look a random kid comes up to me claiming he can't go home, doesn't know his address or his parent’s phone number. Was I suppose to interrogate him too?" Dee snapped.

She softened slightly at his words, “I’m sorry, it’s just… I’m already bending or breaking several rules for you all and it makes me nervous having a child in the same building as him,” she spoke as she motioned towards Remus.

“Hey! I’m a good guy now!” Remus said with a pout.

“I’m glad to hear it,” she said, huffing out a breath but not relaxing, “What was his name again?”

“Thomas Sanders,” Patton answered.

“Okay, I’m going to call the boys at the station to see if we can find out where he lives. In the meantime could somebody wake him up and figured out his powers? I don’t want to spook him so I’ll be outside making the call, call me back in when you’re ready.”

She left the room and the eight of them stood, scattered around the room. Roman waited for someone to wake him before he realized that they were all looking at him.

“What? Me?”

“Well, Pat did say he liked you best,” Virgi pointed out.

“And it would stand to reason that if he was able to recognize your voice, he is very familiar with you as a hero so he is more likely to feel safe talking to you,” Logan added.

“Fine,” Roman approached and crouched next to the couch, “Thomas?” The boy didn’t stir.

He gently touched his shoulder, “Thomas?” He repeated.

He started shifting his face scrunching as he woke from his rest. And then with a start, he shot upward. He looked around the room frantically his eyes landing on each of them in turn. Then he relaxed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Roman winced.

This was going great already.

“Oh no, it’s okay, that's just how I wake up,” Thomas said, sitting up more.

“Well, then I’m sorry for waking you anyway. So you know I had to call the police department so they knew where you were for safety. The police chief is a super nice lady and decided to come by to check on you. She’s outside right now, trying to find out where your parents are so we can talk to them.”

“Oh… are they in trouble?”

“Honestly, probably, its a pretty big deal sending someone your age out alone,” Roman explained, gently, “We all just want to help you stay safe.”

“They shouldn’t be in too much trouble. It was partly my fault too. They told me to stop using my powers and I… I didn’t listen. I said I was sorry but still they shouldn’t be in too much trouble.”

“Thomas, buddy, can I ask what your powers are?”

“I can sing.”

“Sing?” Roman said feeling confused.

“Yeah, I sing and it’s so pretty that people do what I ask them to,” He said looking ashamed.

“Do you think you could show me?” Roman asked. It sounded like that could be a real power but he had to see it right?

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” Roman said.

“What about your friends?”

“They’ll be okay,” Roman assured him.

“...okay,” He took a deep breath and began singing, “ _I’ve been staring at the edge of the water, long as I can remember, never really knowing why._ ”

His voice washed over Roman, making his mind foggy. His voice really was quite beautiful especially for someone so young.

“ _I wish I could be the perfect daughter, but i come back to the water no matter how hard I try._ ”

The was so much pain in a voice so small. Roman wanted to alleviate it.

“ _Every turn I take, every trail I track, every path I make, every road leads back to the place I know that I cannot go, where I long to be,_ ” Thomas’s voice trailed off just before the chorus and Roman wished he would keep singing.

“Mr. Knight, would you please make me a pair of rocket boots like yours?” Thomas asked politely, while also seeming tired beyond his years.

“But of course,” Roman said, conjuring a smaller pair for him, “All you need to do is engage the boots by jumping in the air with them on you- Wait.”

He couldn’t give a seven-year-old child rocket boots!

Roman shook his head feeling the fog lift, “Oh um I’m sorry Thomas. It's not really safe to use them inside.” He banished them.

“That’s okay, I didn’t really want them, it was just the only thing I could think of to ask for.”

“That was fascinating, and incredibly powerful Thomas,” Logan broke in.

“Oh thank you… do you have powers too?” Thomas asked giving Logan a curious look.

“Yes, I can read minds,” Logan said honestly.

“Whoa, that’s super cool! Do you all have powers?”

“No,” Virgil answered, “ I’ve got super speed and strength, Roman and Remus can make things, Logan reads minds, Patton reads feelings and can make other people feel things, Dee can change how he looks. But Remy and Dr. Picani are our friends without powers.”

“And they still like you even though you have powers?” Thomas whispered to Roman.

Roman could help but laugh at his conspiratorial tone, “Well why don’t you ask them? Remy, Emile, do you still like us even though we have powers?”

"Having powers doesn't change that your my friends, " Remy said.

“If it did, I don’t think we were very good friends in the first place,” Emile added.

Thomas nodded slowly.

“I’m gonna go let Officer Torres know that you’re ready to meet her if that’s okay?” Patton said.

“Oh yeah, that’s alright.”

They brought her in and she sat down on the coffee table across from Thomas asking him about his family and his night up to that point.

“So how old are you Thomas?”

“Seven and a half.”

“When did you leave home?”

“Um like a couple of minutes after I got back from school. I had a song stuck in my head and accidentally started humming. Then they got mad.”

“Do you’re parents make sure you have all the food and clothes you need?”

“Yes.”

“Have they ever hurt you? Maybe as a punishment or because they were mad?”

“Nuh-uh.”

After asking the poor kid what probably felt like a billion questions she stood up, closed the note pad she had been using, and said, “I’m gonna leave him with you all for now. We should find his parents soon and when we do we’ll let you know.”

Patton beamed, “Okie dokie, thanks. And thank you for...”

She smirked slightly, “Not throwing you all in jail? Yeah, don’t mention it.”

Roman tried to speak, “No, really you’re-”

“No I wasn’t being modest, I’m serious. Don’t mention this ever again. Make sure the arsonist lies low for another year or so until everyone forgets about him and moves on with your lives.”

“Why are you doing this?” Logan asked suspiciously.

“Partially for Roman but also because Fae helped my sister out of a rough spot,” She said nodding in Declan’s direction, “I’m not letting two heroes go to jail, no matter how fucking stupid their friends are.”

Dee merely tipped his head toward her and she left.

Roman waited until the door shut before he busted out laughing, “You’re welcome for being one of the reasons that she’s not sending us all to jail.”

“I’m sorry for causing so much trouble…” Thomas said quietly.

“Hey kid you aren’t causing trouble for anyone,” Virgil said, pulling off his mask and collapsing into an armchair.

“But you were all busy and then I came in and distracted you all!”

A voice said, “There isn’t much that’s more important to us than helping people who need it.”

Everyone stopped as they realized whose voice it had been. Remus. Not only that but he was grabbing extra blankets from the boxes that were lying around.

“Here I don’t know how cold kids get, but this house is enough to give you frostbite and I don’t want you to lose any limbs,” He said dumping three or four extra blankets on the couch.

“Thank you,” Thomas said, pulling the blankets up to him.

“Well it is likely time for us all to go to sleep,” Logan pointed out. Thomas visibly tensed up. Of course, he didn’t want to be left alone in a big strange house after the day he’d had.

Patton said suddenly, “Hmm, how ‘bout we all have a slumber party in the living room, our rooms aren’t set up anyway. We can turn on a show and fall asleep to it.”

Thomas relaxed again, looking less nervous.

“Yeah, my vote is for Steven Universe! What do you guys think?” Emile said seeming to have caught on as well.

“Sounds good to me,” Virgil said grabbing the open boxes of blankets and dumping them in a pile on the floor.

Everyone grabbed up a spot and no one changed into pajamas because no one could remember what box they were in.

Thomas fell asleep first. They all sat around silently, occasionally cast glances at the small boy on their couch.

“He’s been through hell,” Emile finally whispered breaking the strained silence that hung in the air. “You can see it in his body language. I know what it looks like when parents keep a kid on edge all the time and they certainly did. Them kicking him out couldn’t have been the first bad thing he dealt with from them.”

Emile looked as if he knew from experience. Roman knew from talking to him in the coffee shop so often, his relationship with his parents wasn’t great. Up til now, Romans hadn’t realized just how bad it was.

“Emmy, he’ll be okay,” Remus said, “If they are treating him bad we’ll get him out of there permanently, even if I have to kill them myself, and he’ll grow up alright. Just look at you, you’re wonderful.” Emile slid his hand to lace his fingers with Remus’s.

Roman remembered with a sick twist of his stomach that Remus hadn’t grown up with the best parent either. Remus’s parents were completely different people from who raised Roman.

“He’s very scared,” Patton said.

Logan nodded, “I think any reasonable person would be, much less someone so young.”

“He’s got school tomorrow, if he wants to go we should get him there, sometimes the normalcy is good,” Remy suggested.

"Yeah, if he wants to we will, " Virgil agreed.

Roman nodded. They fell back into a concerned silence. None of them slept much that night.

***

Thomas did (for some reason) want to go to school so Virgil and Declan took him.

"Oh hey, this is the elementary school I went to until my dad started homeschooling me!" Virgil said in surprise as they walked up to it, "They changed the name since then."

Dee blinked at him and squinted and then a small flashbulb of memory appeared in his mind, "Oh, yes, I remember you, Mr. Medina's class."

"You guys went to the same school as kids?! That’s so cool!" Thomas said excitedly.

"Apparently the same class too, but honestly Dee I don't remember you being in my class, " Virgil said with a frown.

"I, uh, went by Elizabeth then, " Dee said, still walking, not making eye contact.

“Oh, yeah, I remember now, sorry,” Virgil laughed with a wince.

Thomas looked at him with confusion, “That’s weird, why did they call you by the wrong name?”

“They were just confused because I looked like a girl at the time.”

“Oh!” Thomas said, not asking any further questions. 

They dropped Thomas off at the playground.

Thomas gave them a sad look and walked toward the playground. 

Then he stopped, turned around, and ran back, tackling them both with a hug, “Thank you. And don’t worry I’ve got the money Patton gave me shoved way down in my pocket so I won’t lose it and I’ll get a place at a hotel tonight.”

He thought they were turning him back out into the cold???

“Kid, that was lunch money, we’re gonna pick you up after school,” Virgil told him gently, “Or officer Torres will, okay? Somebody Is gonna pick you up after school and make sure you have a place tonight.”

“Oh… that’s good cuz I was actually really scared because I didn’t know if seven dollars was enough for a hotel.”

“It’s not,” Dee told him and ruffled his hair, “Get to class, be so smart, don’t show off in music.”  
Thomas grinned and took off again. 

***

The police chief called Patton while he was in class so he stepped out to take it hoping the professor didn't dock his participation points for it.

"Hello?"

"We found out who his parents are. They’re going to be taken into custody tomorrow for child abandonment. I just need to get a warrant. Do you think you could house him for the time being? You have he already trust you and it would be much simpler for him if he didn't get shuffled into some foster family which could worse than his current situation. Not everyone would be kind to a young man of his talents."

"Of course! He such a sweetheart, he can stay as long as he needs."

"And uh Mr. Gaudy, I, of course, would never endorse trespassing onto the parents’ property but I wouldn't be able to stop it if Fae or Deimos were to do that to retrieve some of Thomas's belongings. In fact, if the police were called I think it would probably take up ten to fifteen minutes to arrive. So I certainly hope that no one breaks into their home between four-thirty and five this afternoon while were rotating shifts."

"Oh no, of course not, ma'am, " Patton said with a smile.

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other. Goodbye."

"Goodbye!"

***

“Hey kid, how was school?” Virgil asked as Thomas ran out to meet him, Dee, and Patton. Patton had passed along the message about going and getting Thomas’s stuff but he still couldn’t quite believe the police chief gave them permission to break in and instructions for how to do it without going to jail.

“It was good, I told my friend Joan what happened at recess and they thought it was super cool but don’t worry, I didn’t tell them your real names.”

Virgil decided not to worry about it too much since apparently half the city had figured out who they were anyway.

“Hi, Mr. Patton! Hi, Mr. Dee!”

“Kiddo, we told you you don’t have to call us mister,” Patton said laughing

“Yeah but it’s weird to talk to adults without something in front of it like ‘mister’ or ‘uncle’ or something.”

“You called Remus by just his name when he asked you,” Dee pointed out as they walked away from the school.

“Pfft, well yeah, cuz I realized he’s practically a kid too,” Thomas said as if it was obvious.

“Fair point,’ Virgil agreed, earning a scolding look from Patton.

“Well anyway, Dee and Virgil got permission to go get a couple of things from your house so you’re gonna hang out with me and maybe we can go get ice cream on the way back to the house. But first, we need you to make a list of things that you want or need and they need to all fit into these two duffle bags,” Patton said gesturing to the duffle bags in Virgil’s hand. 

“Or in trash bags, if you aren’t offended by us carrying your stuff in trash bags,” Dee said waving the roll of trash bags that Patton had told them not to bring but they both agreed they should bring.

“Oh, trash bags are okay,” Thomas said, “Do you guys have a paper?” 

“Nah but here, type it into my notes app,” Virgil said passing the kid his phone.

Thomas began typing but stopped suddenly, “I’m not going to have to go back, am I? They were trying to be a good mom and dad and I still love them but… they don’t really want me living with them.”

“Officer Torres is trying to figure that out right now,” Patton said honestly.

Thomas got a determined look on his face, “Well I’m not going back.”

He turned back to the phone in his hands without waiting on a response. That was a lot of surety in his voice. Virgil supposed it made sense after all Thomas could always run away if they tried to make him go back. Not that running away was a good idea but it was a possibility.

“Here ya go, thank you,” Thomas said, handing Virgil his phone.

Virgil looked at the list, It was shorter than he expected. 

“Clothes, Stuffed hamster (Sacagawea), Books- Matilda, The Giving Tree, Wizard of Oz”

“Is this really all you want?”

“No, but I didn’t want to ask for too many things…”

“Kid just put what you want!” Virgil exclaimed, exasperated, and handed the phone back.

Soon they had the full list which was a lot more lengthy, as a list of favorite belongings from a seven-year-old _should be_.

Dee placed a glamour over the both of them that made them look like their villain selves. Then they went to the address Patton gave them broke the window to what was clearly a child’s bedroom.

Virgil hopped through, avoiding the broken glass. Virgil offered Dee a hand, helping him climb through.

Then, of course, Thomas’s parents rushed into the room. You know as one does when one hears a window shatter in one’s house.

“What are you doing?!” The mom exclaimed in horror.

“The macarena, what does it look like?” Dee said with an eye roll, he plucked a stuffed hamster of the bed, shoving it into a trash bag.

“Frankly lady we’re robbing you,” Vigil said bluntly, he made his way over to the dresser and started grabbing hands full of clothes to shove in his duffle bags.

“Get out of our house,” The father said stepping forward, he was wielding a golf club.

Virgil huffed and dropped the duffle bag. He snatched the golf club out of the other man’s hand, bent it in half, and he tossed it out the broken window.

“Why don’t you just go call the cops while we finish our work here?”

The woman rushed off presumably to do just that.

“You _freaks_ , you infect our kid and then you come in and break into our home. And what is your friend grinning about back there?” He demanded, jerking his head toward Dee who was grabbing all of Thomas’s pokemon cards.

“Don’t ask me, man, I’m just the brawn, he’s the brains,” Virgil said, as he scooped all of Thomas books into the duffle bag.

“Sorry, darling Deimos, I left the brain cell at home today. I don’t know what I’m smiling about either. Maybe its the look of terror just behind his eyes as he realizes he has no way to force us out without the police? It’s always nice to watch bad people feel scared.”

“Oh yeah, that is nice,” Virgil agreed zipping up both bags and tossing them out the window. They didn’t have any breakables in them so no harm was done.

Dee emptied the contents of Thomas’s toy box into the trash bag he was holding. Virgil scooped up the container of legos.

He looked around the now barren room.

“Well, thanks for the shit,” He said to the man, he hopped through the window, pulled the trash bag through after him.

Then he reached in and lifted Dee out easily.

“Bye!” Dee said with a polite wave.

Virgil swung one duffle bag onto each shoulder, Dee picked up the trash bag and lego container, then Virgil scooped Dee up into his arms and took off running.

They immediately cracked up laughing.

“So you’re- you’re sure you kept the glamour up the whole time?” Virgil wheezed in between laughs.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry. Oh my fucking god, you just _folded_ the golf club, what the fuck,” Dee cackled.

They made it back to the house pretty quickly and dropped all the bags down in the living room. 

Roman approached and kissed Dee lightly, “Hi babe.”

Logan looked over from where he was unpacking a box of books.

“Do I even want to know?”

Virgil and Dee explained what had happened. Logan nodded and “hmm”d in the appropriate places.

“The weird thing is it was a really nice house and all the stuff was really nice,” Virgil said as they concluded the story.

“People with money are still capable of mistreating a child,” Logan reminded him.

“No, I know, I just mean, it seems like what Thomas said was true. Other than the whole hating superhumans thing they were good people and they probably wouldn’t have mistreated him if he hadn’t ya know- had powers,” Virgil said with a shrug.

“I think the fact that they threw an eight-year-old out into the cold because they were scared of him being different definitely speaks to a deeper issue there, Virge,” Dee said clapping him on the shoulder and walking toward the kitchen.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Virgil rubbed the back of his neck, not sure why he was so surprised, “Anyway, I’m gonna call Patton and let him know that we got the stuff.”

***

The following week was hard. After that first night, Thomas had agreed to stay in one of the spare bedrooms. As the shock of it all wore off, Thomas was understandably very emotional. He didn’t really know how to express the emotions so he just frequently ended up crying.

Once Roman walked into the room while Thomas was humming to himself. Thomas whipped around, stopping his humming, a panicked apology already on his lips but relaxed as soon as he saw it was Roman. Then he collapsed in tears.

Those people may not have hurt him but they had him so on edge about singing that when Roman turned on some music he found Thomas reading with his fingers in his ears. Roman asked him if it was too loud and he explained that he just didn’t want to accidentally sing.

Roman said he could sing if he wanted, that the charm would wear off, no big deal. 

Thomas shook his head and said, “Nuh-uh, It would trick you.”

“Well… what if you drum? That way you can listen and enjoy the music without powers,” Roman suggested.

“Oh… that’s a good idea!” Thomas grinned.

Roman summoned a set of drum sticks and handed them to Thomas, “Just don’t drum on anything breakable but other than that go for it!”

Thomas started trying different surfaces, testing how good they were to drum on.

The worst day was when his parents went to trial. They plead guilty so it was fairly quick and easy on that front. But Thomas was angry that day. Not at anyone in particular just at the world. Emile explained that it was really just due to him feeling like his life was out of control. He screamed and threw things across the room at first but then he cried again. Apologizing for misbehaving and begging them to not make him leave.

Remy lifted Thomas into his lap and held him, “Hey Thomas The Dank Engine, it’s okay. Everyone gets mad sometimes. We just have to learn healthy ways of expressing it. Okay?”

Thomas sniffed, “Okay.”

“Do you wanna hang out with me for a little bit?” Remy asked his tone calm.

Thomas nodded, his hands gripping Remy’s leather jacket. Ten minutes later Thomas was fast asleep. 

That night Officer Torres explained it all to them over the phone. She explained that very soon Thomas would be removed and put into the system unless he was adopted before then.

Which left them with a question to debate that night at the kitchen table after they had put Thomas had woken up for dinner but gone right back to bed afterward. So he was tucked away upstairs as they all sat under the yellow lamplight of the dining room.

Dee stood at the head of the table, “Look we have a choice. Either one of us adopts him or none of us do and he gets put into foster care. Obviously none of us except perhaps Emile are mentally equipped to raise a kid by ourselves.”

“Oh no I am not,” Emile said looking vaguely panicked.

“Then I’m right, if we were to adopt him it needs to be a group effort. So everyone put your heads down and I’ll take an anonymous vote. If less than half agree the matter goes to rest if more than half agree we discuss it further. Don’t agree to anything that you don’t want to, no one will know what you voted except me,” Dee stated.

Roman put his head down and assumed the others did too.

“Alright, raise your hand if you’re willing to adopt him, and put in the work for the next eleven years to raise him to be the best person he can be, whatever that means.”

Roman raised his hand. He didn’t question for a moment whether he was willing to figure this out for Thomas.

Dee’s voice was soft when he spoke, “It’s unanimous.”

Roman sat up and looked at the others. They all sat quietly, solemn. Roman hadn’t expected them all to agree so easily. Even Remus looked serious for once.

“So… we’re gonna have a son?” Remy said breaking the silence. He took a long sip from his straw.

“I guess so,” Patton said.

“Patton, you should be the one to adopt him as you are the one who technically owns the house,” Logan pointed out.

“You’re right,” Emile said, “I’ll write a character witness letter if they ask.”

“Julian would too,” Remus added.

“Dee, you could teach him how to appreciate his powers couldn’t you?” Roman asked.

Dee smiled and slipped his hand into Roman’s, “With Logan’s help, I could.”

“Then there are only two questions,” Virgil said, they all looked at him, “Does he want us to adopt him? And will they let us?”

***

They decided to find out if it was even a possibility before potentially getting Thomas’s hopes up.

It took a few days and a generous “donation” or two to Child protective services but they agreed to consider Patton. An inspector came out to their home to look it over. She began questioning them on how they came into money so suddenly Dee answered with something about Julian Penn being a bit of an eccentric. She questioned them and insinuated things about superhumans without saying them.

Long and short Remus thought she was a bitch but he wasn’t allowed to make noise because Dee was hiding him under a glamour. So he just trailed after the others quietly. 

Emile’s butt looked cute in those pants.

In the end, she said she found it acceptable and that they would be able to begin the adoption process the following Monday. The door shut behind her with finality.

“That’s it. We can ask him now,” Logan murmured. 

“Yay!” Remus cried and the others all jumped, having forgotten he was in the room. Dee dropped the glamour.

“What if we mess him up?” Roman said suddenly.

Everyone looked at him.

“Patton, Ree, your mob bosses, Virge, Dee, there are warrants out for your arrest, I’m hardly a role model…”

“Roman, we can admit that I’m the most average person here right?” Emile said stepping forward and putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder. Roman nodded.

“Okay then believe me when I tell you that any home we can give him is a stark improvement from a home where he is not loved or going into a system where his future is always in flux. We aren’t perfect but we’re stable, we love him, and we want what’s best for him. That’s all you can ask of any parent. Timon and Pumba didn’t know how to train Simba to be king but that didn’t stop them from being a good family.”

“Emile, you’re speaking my language buddy,” Roman said a smile slipping onto his face. Roman had always been a sucker for a Disney reference.

“Good, now, someone needs to pick him up from school, so I’ll go, Logan would you care to join me? We could get to know each other a bit better?”

“That sounds pleasant,” Logan agreed.

***

"Hi, Logan! Hi, Emile!” Thomas said his tone still stilted and awkward when he called them by just their first names, “I learned about space today! Did you know that Pluto isn't considered a planet just cuz it’s little? That's bullshit!"

"Thomas!" Emile gasped, "where'd you learn to say that?"

Thomas grinned and said, "I was having trouble sleeping last night so I went downstairs cuz I heard the TV going and Virgil and Remus were up. And we ate ice cream and went feral!” Logan was almost certain that “feral” had also come from the two of them.

“Have you seen the princess diaries? Because it’s so fun! But they said I could say that word when something really deserves it and Pluto _does_!"

Logan sighed, "Virgil and Remus. Of course. Very well we will take this up with them when we return, just do not let Patton hear you say that."

"Do we have to go straight home?" Thomas asked hopefully, "There's this park nearby that looks really fun and Joan says there's a bunch of leaves there that you can scoop up and jump in."

Logan felt himself soften slightly at Thomas calling their house home so easily. He cast a glance toward Emile who seemed ready to give in.

Logan regretfully had to be the sensible one here, "We can't right now. I'm afraid the others are waiting for us at home because we have something to discuss."

Thomas frowned, "Am I in trouble for saying that word?"

"No, it is a good thing, do not worry."

***

Remy took the lead of the discussion, he explained to Thomas everything that had happened since the police chief announced that Thomas's parents had been found guilty. Then he posed the question.

"So… what do you think? We want you to be part of our family if you're up for it. But it’s okay if you want to leave, we won't adopt you if you don't want us to. We just want you to be happy."

"Are you sure?" Thomas said, small voice wavering, "I could stay here forever?"

"We wouldn't kick you out kid, " Virgil said softly repeating what they had had to repeat at least daily since they had known Thomas.

Thomas searched each of them for a sign that they were tricking him.

He nodded hesitantly, "Okay… on one condition."

Remy laughed, "Okay what?"

"I get to call you my dads because I can't get used to calling you by just your names."

"Pfft alright, deal." 

***

They had no idea how much they would come to regret that. 

As it turned out Thomas's method of getting through that difficult transition was to gleefully call out "Dad!" In any given room of the house and hear a chorus of up to eight men call back from the various rooms. 

Logan pointed out a few times that to clear up confusion they might choose separate paternal titles such as "Papa" or "Father". But no one was willing to tell Thomas as much when their confusion seemed to make him smile.

***

Years past and the original awkwardness that had come with such sudden parenthood faded. 

Emile and Remus got married, they held the ceremony in their back yard and held the reception in the ballroom (which they owned for god knows what reason). Occasionally Roman almost regretted them buying a mansion. It was so big and some times late at night Roman would wander and happen across a long-closed room and find some hint of the previous owner. A perfume bottle or a picture frame. Something left behind from a hasty move.

Despite the origin and size of the house, it was full of love in a way that Roman and Remus’s home growing up never had been. There wasn’t the underlying tension, there wasn’t the threat of death every night.

Thomas learned to play ukulele, and piano while he tried to learn to control his powers.

Roman, Patton, Logan, Dee, and Remy graduated. Virgil still had a bit of time left to go. Remy and Patton got jobs at the same hospital. 

Dee proposed about three months later. Roman said yes.

The Knight’s hero days were mostly behind him but Fae was frequently seen taking large sums of cash to people who needed it from crime syndicate funds. 

Julian came over for dinner often, his kids joined when they weren’t with their mother. It was nice to have him around to give them pointers on raising a superhuman. It also was good for Thomas to play with someone his age who had powers too.

Roman had thrown himself into writing books in which every protagonist had powers. Dee had gotten a job at a magazine. In Roman’s opinion, he was the best reporter they had although he might have been biased.

Things were _good_. They were genuinely _good_.

He had a fiance, and a family, and a son, and a house, and a job he adored.  
And he had superpowers. 

It was a footnote now. Just one part of him. An important part but it didn’t have to consume his thoughts. 

That was nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This kinda hurts a little bit to let go of, I'm only seventeen so fifteen months is a long time for me to have been working on a project. XD
> 
> But hey, thanks so much for reading! And if you made it to the end please drop a comment I just like interacting with y'all.
> 
> Also come yell at me on Tumblr! I'm @todefine-istolimit or my discord is DefineIsToLimit#1608


End file.
